Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
Renowned professor of capital market, Uche Uwaleke, has underscored the necessity for the newly launched Nigeria Capital Market Master Plan (NCMMP 2.0) to be accompanied by a reputable supply framework that establishes measurable annual milestones, offers for common impartial analysis and makes it potential to tell apart between accomplished actions and reforms which have produced tangible financial outcomes.
The NCMMP 2.0 (2026-2036), which was launched in Abuja just lately by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, is a roadmap designed to increase Nigeria’s capital market from about N250 trillion to N750 trillion by 2036.
In an article titled ‘NCMMP 2.0: The Gaps in National Alignment and Inclusive Consultation,’ which he made obtainable to THISDAY, Uwaleke described the Master Plan as a commendable and impressive enterprise that deserves recognition.
He mentioned: “The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the sponsors, FSD Africa and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the consortium of consultants led by Genesis Analytics and Bourse Consult deserve commendation for investing the experience, sources and collaborative effort required to articulate a strategic imaginative and prescient for Nigeria’s capital market over the following decade.
“The aspiration to construct a various, environment friendly, clear and modern capital market that positions Nigeria as a regional monetary hub and mobilizes the capital wanted to drive wealth creation and a US$1 trillion economic system by 2030 is kind of compelling. There is each motive to be assured that the plan could make a significant contribution to Nigeria’s financial transformation.
“However, the success of a masterplan of this magnitude will depend not only on its aspirations and proposed reforms, but also on the realism of its time horizon, its alignment with national development priorities, the inclusiveness of its formulation and the strength of the institutional arrangements for its implementation.”
Uwaleke, who’s the Director of the Institute of Capital Market Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, noticed that one elementary query was whether or not a 10-year implementation horizon, spanning 2026-2036, is probably the most applicable framework for the NCMMP 2.0.
He argued that whereas a long-term imaginative and prescient was mandatory for reworking a capital market, the implementation programme should be anchored in a timeframe that’s sufficiently reasonable, measurable and aligned with the nation’s prevailing financial coverage framework.
“In this respect, Malaysia’s Capital Market Masterplan 2026-2030, launched on ninth March 2026, presents a helpful mannequin. Malaysia has adopted a five-year implementation horizon inside a broader 20-year imaginative and prescient extending to 2045.
“This approach distinguishes between the long-term destination and the medium-term actions required to get there. It allows policymakers and market participants to translate strategic ambitions into specific, time-bound priorities, assess progress against measurable milestones and recalibrate interventions in response to changing economic conditions without losing sight of the overarching vision. Nigeria would have benefited from a similar architecture,” he mentioned.
According to him, Nigeria already has a National Development Plan for 2026-2030, located inside the longer-term Nigeria Agenda 2050, including {that a} capital market masterplan overlaying 2026-2030 would subsequently have offered a pure and coherent framework for aligning capital market reforms with nationwide financial priorities, whereas preserving a longer-term perspective in the direction of 2050.
He defined that it was not merely a query of administrative comfort or the selection of a extra handy planning cycle, however goes with out saying that the capital market doesn’t function in an financial or coverage vacuum.
“Its growth is profoundly influenced by macroeconomic stability, fiscal and financial coverage, the funding local weather, public-sector borrowing, pension and insurance coverage laws, infrastructure growth and the federal government’s broader financial priorities.
“The market can mobilise capital, facilitate funding, deepen monetary inclusion and help enterprise development, but it surely can’t independently overcome coverage constraints that lie past its institutional attain. certainly, the NCMMP 2.0 doc itself offers a compelling motive to take this alignment significantly.
“It acknowledges that the primary Capital Market Master Plan, overlaying 2015-2025, achieved solely 63 per cent of its deliberate actions, with simply two of its 21 macro-objectives absolutely achieved by the tip of 2025, whereas the remaining 19 have been at various levels of execution.
“A revised masterplan was subsequently developed in 2021 to replicate market realities, whereas the absence of alignment with Nigeria’s nationwide growth blueprints weakened broader buy-in from policymakers.
“These are important classes. They counsel that bold targets and in depth stakeholder engagement, nonetheless helpful, can’t substitute for a planning framework that’s built-in with the nationwide coverage atmosphere and instructions sustained political and institutional possession. It would subsequently have been prudent to make the NCMMP 2.0 a medium-term implementation plan for 2026-2030, explicitly aligned with the National Development Plan for the identical interval, inside a longer-term capital market imaginative and prescient extending to 2050.
“Such an association would have provided a extra direct connection between capital market reforms and nationwide financial targets, made it simpler to assign tasks to related authorities establishments, and strengthened accountability for supply.
“It would also have provided a natural opportunity for a comprehensive review at the end of 2030, when the next phase could be developed in light of the country’s economic performance, policy direction and progress in capital market development,” he mentioned, stressing {that a} 10-year plan shouldn’t be inherently inappropriate.
Its effectiveness, he noticed, will depend on how nicely its implementation cycle is built-in with the nationwide planning system.
He famous that the priority, subsequently, was not the ambition of the NCMMP 2.0, however the threat of making one other planning horizon that will not adequately correspond with the coverage framework upon which its success relies upon.
“The second issue concerns the breadth and inclusiveness of the stakeholder consultation undertaken in developing the masterplan,” he identified.
