Nigeria wants a $1 trillion economy, is NGX ready to finance it?

In a recent meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, NGX Group’s leadership presented President Tinubu with a scorecard showcasing Nigeria's remarkable economic growth. The market capitalization has skyrocketed from N30 trillion in 2023 to N160 trillion today, and the All-Share Index has grown from 52,000 points to over 244,000.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now on a path to listing, and President Tinubu was undoubtedly pleased with these achievements. However, the focus should not be solely on the numerical figures, as they still don't capture the entire picture. As the author reflects on the meeting, they begin to view NGX differently, not just as a platform for buying and selling shares, but as a critical institution that will determine Nigeria's ability to finance its desired economy.

The author recognizes that Nigeria's vision of becoming a $1 trillion economy is ambitious, encompassing industrialization, infrastructure, housing, manufacturing, and globally competitive companies. However, a fundamental question remains unanswered: who will finance all of this? The answer lies in a deep, sophisticated, and ambitious Nigerian capital market.

NGX Group, which has reported impressive revenue growth and increased retail participation, now faces a new responsibility. As the author points out, the progress made in the capital market should be viewed as the engine room for Nigeria's development. The exchange is not just a place where shares change hands; it is a vital financial infrastructure that moves money from those who have it to businesses that need it.

The quality of this capital market directly impacts the pace of development, enabling new factories, homes, African tech companies reaching global scale, and infrastructure without piling onto government debt. The author argues that NGX's recent meeting with President Tinubu was not merely a victory lap, but a pitch for a national capital formation program.

They emphasize the need to ask more significant questions than simply how to make NGX bigger. Instead, the focus should be on how much bigger Nigeria's economy can become because of NGX's existence. The author asks about the amount of capital raised for productive businesses, the number of companies that can scale due to access to public capital, the extent to which pension capital finds its way into productive assets, and the scale at which Nigerian companies can reach global markets without leaving the continent. These are harder questions, but they are the ones that truly matter.