Dr Emomotimi Agama, director general, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that his commission is working to expand the capital market education curriculum for Nigerian universities to include topics on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, financial technology, and others.

Agama, made this statement during the inauguration of a committee tasked with reviewing the curriculum on securities and investment management.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has already approved the curriculum for Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.

The committee will be chaired by Professor Uche Uwaleke of Capital Market Studies at Nasarawa State University

He said, “Due to new developments in fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and others, there is a need to expand the curriculum to accommodate the new trends. It is an important time and we want to latch in to be able to teach Nigerians, especially the young people, about the capital market. In light of this, the commission has set up a committee to review and enrich the existing curriculum to reflect these advancements.

“It is sad that people do not have a full grasp of capital market issues. We must do everything to share knowledge and educate people. We want to be the best capital market among nations and that can only be possible due to the superiority of our knowledge. You are well placed to do this being in the Ivory Towers and I thank you for accepting to serve as we look forward to a robust discussion.”

Agama disclosed that the terms of reference of the committee included: a review of the NUC curriculum on securities and investment management to include the non-interest capital market, the commodities ecosystem, the derivatives market, sustainable finance; and capital Market regulations; expanding the ‘Introduction to Cryptocurrency’ section of the NUC curriculum to reflect current developments.; and developing a standard capital market studies curriculum to be used by Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.

Members of the committee include Prof Augustine Agom of the Ahmadu Bello University; Prof. Seth Akutson of the Kaduna State University; Prof Chuke Nwude of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Dr Akeem Oyewole of Marble Capital Ltd.

Others are Prof Oladele Akinyomi of the Mountain Top University;  Head of the Market Development Department of SEC, Mrs Ojone Kabir;  Head of Economic Research and Intelligence of SEC, Dr Hassan Suleiman and Mrs Jessica Ogwuche of the Financial Inclusion and Investor Education Department of SEC, who is the secretary of the committee.

In his remarks, Uwaleke, chairman of the committee, appreciated the management of the commission for finding members of the committee fit and trusted to carry out the assignment.

“We know that part of our challenge is because our retail investor base is shallow in relation to our population and one way to change the narrative is through capital market literacy. We as lecturers can attest to the fact that capital market literacy within the academic environment is low and I think tackling that is one low-hanging fruit.

“I am aware that the DG and others have been trying to increase the level of awareness with various programmes like quizzes, essays, investor clinics and others, but for us to make more impact, we need to focus on tertiary institutions and that is why I think what we are doing is very crucial,” he stated.

Uwaleke assured that the members would add value given their track record, saying that the objectives and terms of reference of the committee would be achieved.

About 54 million Nigerian adults have bank accounts recognized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) representing 52 per cent in 2023, the Apex bank declared on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Bank said about another 5 per cent adult population is captured under the “other formal” financial inclusion category. CBN gave the updates at the Financial Literacy Fair in commemoration of the 2024 World Savings Day celebration.

It disclosed that 11 per cent are categorised as being informally captured in financial inclusion while 32 per cent or 33.9 million Nigerians are excluded entirely from the financial system.

Ibrahim Yahaya, Acting Head of the Consumer Protection Department said the savings culture has improved over time.

“Over time, Savings has improved. Savings have improved significantly if you look at it from the deposit side. Deposit in the banking industry has been on the increase over time”

“There are other events that may discourage people from saving. You see, in the time that we have been on this journey, people’s income, there has always been that agitation that income is never enough to meet my immediate needs and wants. So it has always been like that.

Speaking to the reason school children were invited to witness World Savings Day, Ibrahim Yahaya said the CBN is celebrating the World Savings Day, an international event that is celebrated on 31st of October each year with the main objective being to promote the importance of savings.

“You know instil the culture of savings among the youth and you know emphasize the importance so that you know right from childhood you grow up with that discipline and you know having that at the back of our minds and even the parents to promote this idea of saving in view of the importance of savings to address some future events that may arise.”

He added “It is very important to save because of eventualities. You know this life is full of a lot of journeys so you need to save in case any issue arise you will be able to have something like a fallback so as to address on in case of those eventualities.

On the impact of savings on the economy, Yahaya stated that “Savings is part of deposits. Savings that you have in the bank is part of deposits and used for lending. Lending drives growth, economic growth. So what we have as deposits is what the banks use to lend out especially to the real sector that drive economic growth.”

To this end, he urged school children to take savings as a habit. “If you say you need to have plenty before you save, then you will never do it. But if you take it as a habit, keep something aside, no matter the challenges, you will see the importance tomorrow.”

Savings and inflation, Yahaya noted that “inflation has been there. I know it is more challenging these days. But if you take it as part of a life, you know, culture, a life attitude, I think you will find it very easy.

“And of course, if you have the savings, if you have something to fall back on now, of course, you know how the impact will be in these trying times.”

Moniepoint, a Nigerian cash-transfer startup, raised $110 million in an equity sale to expand in home market and across Africa, Tosin Eniolorunda, founder and chief executive said.

The Series C funding round, backed by an Africa investment fund owned by Google and Development Partners International LLP, will enable the firm start cross-border remittances and extend banking services into francophone African countries,  according to Eniolorunda.

“We are at different levels of engagement for approvals to do remittances,” Eniolorunda said in an interview. “We want to deploy banking to other countries.”

Founded in 2015 to provide infrastructure and payment solutions in Africa’s most populous nation, Moniepoint has seen rapid expansion taking advantage of Nigeria central bank’s cashless drive and widespread insecurity that has promoted the use of digital platforms for payments, according to Eniolorunda.

The Financial Times earlier reported that the funding round gives the company so-called unicorn status, or a value of more than $1 billion, citing unidentified people familiar with the company.

That puts the firm in the ranks of other players like Flutterwave, OPay and Jumia Technologies AG that have all achieved or surpassed the elusive valuation by exploring the Nigerian market.

Moniepoint processes 800 million transactions, worth about $17 billion every month, according to Eniolorunda.

The company is looking to start inventory management “soon” to complement other banking services including debit cards, savings, lending and payments, he said.