SEC DG Pushes for Urgent West African Capital Market Integration

By Oluwakemi Kindness

Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama, has called on West African countries to fast-track capital market integration.

This is as he warns that delay will limit the region’s ability to mobilise the massive investments needed for economic transformation.

Speaking in Abuja at the Experts Meeting on Validation of the WASRA Charter, Agama, who also chairs the West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) described the initiative as “a watershed moment” in the region’s financial history.

“To meet our infrastructure, climate, and digital challenges, we require capital at a scale no single national market can provide. An integrated regional capital market is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity,” Agama said.

According to a statement in Abuja on Thursday, he noted that Africa faces an annual infrastructure financing gap of over $100 billion, while West Africa alone needs tens of billions of dollars to modernise transport, energy, and digital systems.

Without integrated markets to pool liquidity, he warned that governments will remain constrained by limited fiscal space and costly borrowing.

Agama pointed to the European Union and ASEAN, which achieved economic transformation through harmonised rules, seamless cross-border funding, and investor confidence. West Africa, with 400 million people and a combined GDP of $800 billion, he said, has even greater potential, but must act decisively.

Beyond infrastructure, integration could unlock investment in:

Agriculture – value chains, agro-processing, and food security.
Digital economy – fintech scale-ups, broadband expansion, and innovation hubs.
Youth empowerment – job creation through cross-border pools of capital.
WASRA’s Role

Agama outlined WASRA’s mandate to anchor integration by:

Harmonizing regulations to protect investors.
Fostering cross-border programmes and standards.
Promoting mutual assistance among regulators.
He urged ECOWAS finance ministers to champion the initiative, stressing that “political will is the single most important factor in moving from aspiration to reality.”

Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Wale Edun, represented by Principal Economist Hassan Adamu Jibrin, said validation of the WASRA Charter would lay the foundation for regulatory cooperation and sustainable market development.

Also speaking, Peter Oluonye of the ECOWAS Commission highlighted the need to harmonise rules, accounting standards, and trading systems to attract investment and reduce dependence on external capital.