Nigeria’s capital market will only remain competitive if lawmakers treat the newly enacted Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 as a starting point rather than a finished product.
This was the opinion of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Senator Osita Bonaventure Izunaso, at an inaugural lecture delivered as part of the Izunaso Fellowship.
Izunaso said that the National Assembly’s legislative record, culminating in the ISA 2025, showed that it had been “instrumental in shaping the country’s securities market through law-making, oversight, appropriation, stakeholder engagement, and continuous legal reform.”
He explained that the ISA 2025, which repealed the 2007 Act, strengthens investor protection, expands the enforcement powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and for the first time gives statutory recognition to digital assets and financial market infrastructures.
The senator described it as “one of the most significant legislative reforms of Nigeria’s financial sector in recent years” and said it “demonstrates the responsiveness of the National Assembly to the evolving dynamics of global finance.”
Izunaso emphasised on the dynamic nature of securities legislation adding that, unlike many other areas of law, capital market regulation “must continuously evolve to accommodate financial innovation, respond to systemic risks, and align domestic markets with international standards.”
Turning to emerging risks, Izunaso flagged financial technology, digital assets, artificial intelligence, algorithmic trading, decentralised finance, tokenised securities and cybersecurity as areas likely to generate fresh regulatory questions “over the coming years.”
He said digital investment platforms and crowdfunding had expanded access to investment opportunities but had also raised exposure to “fraud, cybercrime, regulatory arbitrage, and operational risks,” which would require “adaptive legislation capable of balancing innovation with effective investor protection and market integrity.”
He also pointed to persistently low retail investor participation, citing limited financial literacy, low confidence stemming from past market volatility and inadequate awareness of investment opportunities as continuing constraints on broader market participation.
Drawing lessons from other jurisdictions, Izunaso cited the United States’ post-1929 legislative response, including the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and later the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Acts, as evidence of the value of continuous legal reform.
He also referenced India’s Securities and Exchange Board and South Africa’s Twin Peaks regulatory model under its Financial Sector Regulation Act of 2017 as templates for institutional coordination and investor protection.
Going forward, he listed six legislative priorities which include institutionalising periodic reviews of the ISA and other financial sector laws; strengthening oversight of the SEC; and fast-tracking subsidiary regulations needed to implement the ISA 2025, particularly on digital assets, AI and cybersecurity.
Others are expanding financial literacy and investor education to bring in more women, youths, SMEs and diaspora Nigerians; tightening enforcement against insider trading and market manipulation; and using the market to advance regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
