The Chairman of the NGX Group, Dr. Umaru Kwaranga has expressed the commitment of the Group to playing its part in building a strong capital market that enables businesses to grow, savings to become productive investment, infrastructure to be financed, ownership to broaden and economic opportunities to reach more people.
Dr Umar Kwaranga made the remark at the Nigeria Investment Forum 2026,held in New York, United States of America
He stated that on the part of the Nigerian Exchange, “we are leveraging on the favourable business environment and the support of government to build a robust and thriving capital market. He declared that in the last couple of years, the Exchange has grown market capitalisation as well as trading volumes and values. “We have onboarded millions of new investors through our trading licence holders marketing and digital innovations such as NGX Invest which is an efficient portal for primary offers. We have welcomed more enterprises to a listing on the Nigerian Exchange. The latest of these is the ongoing Dangote Refinery Initial Public Offer which is setting records for capital raised and number of subscribers on the African continent. The Nigerian Exchange has proved itself as a robust platform for capital raising and generating good returns for savvy investors.”
He revealed that the challenge before Nigeria and the wider continent today is how to connect global capital more effectively with the opportunities emerging across our economies.
For Nigeria, he noted, the answer goes beyond attracting capital, but requires creating conditions that allow capital to enter efficiently, support productive enterprise, generate sustainable returns and contribute meaningfully to economic development.
According to Dr.Kwaitanga, “we were here in New York two years ago with His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, to highlight reforms in Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary policy that the administration instituted in order to correct long standing structural imbalances and set the economy on a path to sustainable growth. We can affirm that those reforms including the removal of fuel subsidies, discontinuing parallel exchange rate regimes, sensible monetary policy and a reformed tax regime have had positive impact on the country’s macros economic growth and the business environment for companies, both big and small. That has had a knock-on effect on the Nigerian capital market which has seen double digit growth every year since 2023.”
The NGX Group Chairman who spoke on the theme: “Connecting Capital to Opportunity: Investing in Africa’s Next Frontier,” said “At Nigerian Exchange Group, we see ourselves as part of a broader national ecosystem for capital formation and economic growth. Our role extends beyond providing a marketplace where securities are traded. It is about helping to create an environment in which businesses can access long-term financing, investors can participate in credible opportunities and savings can be channeled towards productive sectors of the economy.
‘Achieving this depends fundamentally on investor confidence, Capital moves towards opportunity, but it remains where investors have confidence in the institutions and systems supporting their investments. That confidence is built through sound regulation, credible governance, transparency, market integrity and infrastructure that allows transactions to take place efficiently.”
He explained that in considering where to invest, investors must weigh risk and return. “Nigeria’s country risk profile,’ he stated ‘ is considerably lower than it was three years ago while the returns available remain some of the highest in the world and they are sosustainable. Nigeria’s abundance of natural resources whether in crude oil, solid minerals and fertile land and climate suitable for large scale agriculture combined with its large, young hardworking population make it one of the twenty first century’s economic growth engines.” He added.
He also explained that the country’s potential remains huge, now underpinned by a stable democracy, good leadership and a business-minded leadership that is committed to supporting the private sector and welcoming to foreign investment.
While inviting global investors to be part of the growth story of Nigeria through the Nigerian Exchange Dr. Kwairanga argued that connecting capital to opportunity is ultimately about connecting investment to the real economy. It is about creating the conditions for capital to finance productive enterprise, enabling businesses to grow and ensuring that investment translates into jobs, innovation, productivity and sustainable economic value.
Nigeria is akin to China in the 1980s, a giant that is about to unleash its full potential and “Nigeria has opportunities that merit global attention. Our collective task is to continue strengthening the institutions, markets and partnerships that can transform those opportunities into investable and scalable propositions.” He declared .