Nigeria has proposed a series of regional capital market reforms aimed at making it easier for investors to trade bonds and other securities across West Africa, in a move to attract long-term financing for infrastructure and economic development.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, announced the proposals on Tuesday at the S&P Global Ratings Africa Summit in Lagos.
Oyedele said fragmented capital markets across West Africa were limiting access to long-term financing, with no single market sufficiently deep to attract the scale of investment required for major infrastructure and economic growth projects.
He proposed a regional passport regime that would allow issuers approved in one participating market to raise capital in other markets without undergoing separate regulatory approval processes.
The government is also advocating a unified investor identification system that would enable investors registered in one country to purchase bonds and equities across the region without repeating onboarding procedures.
Another proposal involves linking regional trading, settlement and payment infrastructure to enable securities transactions to be settled directly in local currencies, reducing dependence on the US dollar.
The proposed framework would cover 10 West African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Oyedele said existing regional initiatives, including the West African Capital Markets Integration Council, the African Exchanges Linkage Project and the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, provided a foundation for deeper financial integration.
He said the priority was to connect existing platforms and initiatives to create a more efficient regional investment system.
Additional proposals include establishing a regional local-currency bond index and a credit enhancement facility to support cross-border infrastructure financing.
A regional bond index could provide investors with a benchmark for assessing the performance of debt instruments across participating markets, while the proposed credit enhancement facility would help improve the financing prospects of infrastructure projects.
Oyedele said Nigeria was targeting investment-grade credit ratings within three years and seeking to develop a capital market worth at least $1 trillion under its 10-year capital market development plan.
The proposals align with Nigeria’s broader efforts to position its capital market as a regional financial hub and attract more domestic and international investment.
The Nigeria Capital Market Masterplan 2.0, covering 2026 to 2036, seeks to deepen the country’s financial markets, diversify investment products, strengthen market infrastructure and expand participation by institutional, retail and diaspora investors.
The plan also identifies cross-border capital raising, regional listings and closer cooperation with African markets as important measures for improving access to finance.
If implemented, the proposed regional reforms could reduce regulatory duplication, improve market liquidity and expand investment opportunities across West Africa. However, their effectiveness will depend on cooperation among participating countries, regulatory alignment and the integration of financial market infrastructure.
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