The Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Emomotimi Agama, has described the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 as a powerful foundation for the capital market Nigeria needs and deserves.
He said this at the agency’s Journalists’ Academy 2025 held on Wednesday in Lagos themed The ISA 2025 and The Future of Nigeria’s Capital Market: Innovation, Protection, and Growth.
He used the occasion to mandate all the Capital Market Operators (CMOs) to ensure all tradable instruments are registered in line with the new law on or before January 2026.
“If we get this right, ISA 2025 will serve as a powerful foundation for the capital market Nigeria needs and deserves: deep, efficient, innovative, and globally competitive.
“The ISA 2025 is more than a replacement for the 2007 Act. It is a forward-looking instrument designed to reposition Nigeria’s capital market for a rapidly changing world,” Mr Agama, who was represented by the Commissioner of Operations, Mr Bola Ajomale, said.
He added that the ISA 2025 strengthens the commission to protect investors, empower market operators and align Nigeria with global best practice while addressing uniquely Nigerian challenges.
“One of the most transformative aspects of the ISA 2025 is the clarity it brings to the mandate of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“For the first time, the Act explicitly sets out the regulatory objectives, functions, and powers of the commission, including acting in the public interest, protecting investors, maintaining fair and transparent markets, preventing unlawful practices, reducing systemic risk, and supporting capital formation,” the SEC DG noted.
According to him, this clarity strengthens regulatory authority and enhances institutional accountability, adding that it also eliminates the ambiguities that previously complicated enforcement actions and improves the alignment of the SEC’s work with national economic goals.
Mr Agama said the Act expands the commission’s investigative capacity not only over regulated entities, but also over unrelated third parties where necessary for enforcement.
“This closes a major loophole that hindered previous investigations into market abuse and complex financial schemes.
“Such provisions signal that the SEC is no longer limited by outdated definitions or narrow supervisory boundaries. The regulator now has modern tools to protect the integrity of the market,” he said.
The capital market expert said the Act represents a collective resolve to modernise our capital-market architecture, noting that several forces made this reform necessary: the rise of digital trading, fintech platforms, and virtual assets, the inadequacies of the previous Act in addressing Ponzi schemes, systemic risks, and new financing structures, among others.
He stressed that the need for stronger alignment with IOSCO standards and the imperative to deepen Nigeria’s capital market as a tool for national development led to its review.
“One of the most transformative aspects of the ISA 2025 is the clarity it brings to the mandate of SEC.
“For the first time, the Act explicitly sets out the regulatory objectives, functions, and powers of the commission including acting in the public interest, protecting investors, maintaining fair and transparent markets, preventing unlawful practices, reducing systemic risk, and supporting capital formation.
“This clarity strengthens regulatory authority and enhances institutional accountability.
“It eliminates the ambiguities that previously complicated enforcement actions and improves the alignment of the SEC’s work with national economic goals,” he said.