By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The sponsor of the Bill on the Repeal and Re-enactment of the Investment and Securities Bill 2025, Senator Osita Izunaso, has said the legislation had set the stage for the $1trn economy proposed by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Izunaso, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, stated this in an interview with journalists yesterday in Abuja.
During his 2023 Presidential Campaign, Tinubu promised to build a jumbo-sized economy, aiming for a $1trn GDP by 2030.
The Senator also said that the Bill, which has been assented to by President Tinubu, would end all forms of Ponzi Schemes in Nigeria but grow the digital assets as well as cryptocurrency
He said, “The Investment and Securities Act that Mr. President has just signed is a holistic enactment because we repealed the 2007 ISA and re-enacted it in 2025 to reset Nigeria’s entire investment and securities law.
“With what we have done today, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, digital assets and cryptocurrency have now been recognised as a form of security in Nigeria.
“This means that people can now trade with digital assets, people can now do cryptocurrency, and the Security and Exchange Commission will adequately regulate it.
“What it means is that the virtual asset services providers and the digital asset operators are today under the purview of SEC.”
Izunaso said Nigeria is about second or third globally in terms of cryptocurrency and that a lot of money has passed through the country without being regulated.
He said, “Today, Mr. President is talking about a $1 trillion economy. By signing this Act into law, Nigeria is set for that $1 trillion economy.
“If we want to achieve the $1 trillion economy Mr. President envisages, we must promote the money and capital markets. So today, the capital market has been reset for that purpose.
“I would also like to clarify that the days of Ponzi insider trading and market manipulations are over in Nigeria.
“Today, if you are caught in a Ponzi market arrangement, you risk going to jail for 10 years and paying a fine of between N20m to N40m, and all the money you took from people will also be recovered from you.
“Today, we have classified exchanges into two. You now have composite exchange and non-composite. Composite means you can do multiple trading, while non-composite is about single security trading. The whole idea is to enhance proper market regulation and mitigate risk.
“So this new law is promoting investors’ confidence, repositioning Nigeria because the ISA of 2007 did not comply with the International Organisation for Securities Commissions. Today, the new law is arranged according to IOSCO standards and regulations.
“So you can trade anywhere now in Nigeria internationally, taking it from the known records, not the records that are not known as we were doing it before. So there are so many areas. Today, we are making it more transparent for you to operate in the capital market.”
The Senator added that with the new law, the sub-nationals can now approach the capital market for long-term loans to finance their projects.
He said, “With the new law, states and local governments can approach the capital market for long-term funding. Instead of relying on federation accounts and commercial borrowing, states and the 774 LGAs can now go to the capital market for long-term project funding.”
For now, he said, only the Lagos Island Local Government Area has approached the capital market to secure loans to fund its projects.
