The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) currently manages around six million investor accounts, yet only about 10 percent are active, according to GTI Group CEO, Abubakar Lawal.
Speaking at the 2025 annual workshop of the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN), Lawal warned that reactivating dormant accounts is essential if the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 is to support the federal government’s goal of attaining a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
“There are 6 million people on the CSCS platform and just about 10% of them are active,” he said, calling on market operators and regulators to transform passive account holders into regular investors through improved financial literacy, expanded product offerings, and broader market access.
Lawal emphasized that Nigeria’s youthful population — with a median age of about 18 and more than half of citizens under 30 — and its rapidly expanding digital ecosystem, boasting over 100 million internet users as of early 2025, offer enormous potential for investor mobilization. Harnessing this “youth dividend,” he said, depends on converting widespread digital adoption into formal market participation.
ISA 2025: A Framework for Broader Participation
The CAMCAN workshop, themed “Regulatory Reforms: ISA 2025 & Nigeria’s Investment Climate,” also spotlighted the sweeping changes introduced by the new Act. Delivering his presentation through a representative, Lawal described ISA 2025 as the legal backbone for expanding investor inclusion.
He noted that ISA 2025 recognizes digital and virtual assets as securities, legitimizes crowdfunding and investment contracts, and provides for new categories of exchanges — including composite and non-composite platforms. It also broadens the pool of eligible issuers, from free-trade-zone enterprises to government agencies, while strengthening the regulatory authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
These provisions, Lawal explained, dismantle long-standing structural barriers and open new regulated channels for savings and investment.
Through regulated crowdfunding and expanded issuance options — such as Sukuk and other non-interest instruments now available to states and local governments — ISA 2025 enables household savings to be channeled into long-term infrastructure projects. Such investments, he argued, can finance roads, power plants, ports, and other assets critical to productivity growth, ultimately generating a multiplier effect essential for achieving the $1 trillion economic aspiration.
Advisory firms like PwC have similarly highlighted the Act’s intention to deepen capital markets and broaden investor choices.
Market data supports this potential: despite the shallow investor base, transaction volumes continue to rise. CSCS reported significant increases in securities activity in 2025, suggesting strong latent demand awaiting mobilization.
Emmanuel Bassey is a Financial Expert that has worked in the Banking and Finance Industry for over 15+ years across different banks in Nigeria
