The Director-General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Mr Lamido Yuguda has expressed displeasure over the non-participation of young people in the Nigerian capital market.

Speaking during a meeting with a team led by the British Deputy High Commissioner in Abuja, Mr Yaguda said the commission discovered that the average age of the Central Securities Clearing System account holder was over 50 years.

According to him, the discovery made the commission realize that “young people were not participating in the market and when young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail.”

He however noted that the commission is taking steps to guarantee that market item and offerings are available to both young and old people, which will help to broaden the market.

What SEC is saying about participation in the capital market

“When we assumed office, we were shocked to know that the average age of the Central Securities Clearing System account holder was over 50 years. The CSCS is a depository so if you are investing in equities you must have a CSCS account.

“The average age of that account holder was over 50, and that made us realize that the young people were not participating in this market and when young people are not participating in any market, that market is doomed to fail.

“Young people today prefer to do things on their phones, if you have to fill a stack of forms manually young people won’t do it. We want to make investing in the capital market a fun experience.

“The capital market experience starts with a bank account and eventually the distribution has to hit a bank account as well. So, we decided to look at the whole process and find out what is turning young people off.

“We have started the process and seen how the tech companies are providing much-needed relief to the kind of bureaucracy that happens in the capital market.”

Yuguda disclosed that the SEC recently approved an e-offer for MTN and expressed the excitement of the commission that Nigerians especially those of the younger age bracket were able to participate in the offer.

He added, “It was marvellously successful and we are very excited about it. A lot of young people who had never invested in the capital market took the MTN offer.

“That is one of the first steps in a lot of steps we are going to take to make investing in the capital market a much nicer experience for people both young and old. We know we can move quickly and faster once we strengthen our IT infrastructure to do a lot more.

“In this market, what we have seen is that where people do have ready access to interesting products in the regulated market they then gravitate towards the parallel markets and the Ponzi schemes and really the task of the Commission is to as much as possible move money to the regulated market away from the Ponzi schemes.”

He stated that with e-offers, many Nigerians would be happy to invest in the capital market and that would dissuade people from patronising illegal schemes thereby leading to the development of the capital market and the Nigerian economy.

Yuguda also stated that the commission in its drive to attract more people to the market is focusing on a proper identity management system which would also aid in the reduction of the issue of unclaimed dividends.