The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) has urged African countries to play a more active role in shaping global capital markets.
The group called for stronger, innovative and integrated financial systems capable of supporting Africa’s long-term economic transformation. The call is contained in a statement issued by NGX Group on Friday .
Dr Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of NGX Group, made the call at the Royal African Society’s 125th Anniversary Flagship Business event.
The event was held at the London Stock Exchange on Friday, with the theme, ‘Global Capital Markets at a Crossroad: Africa’s Plan for the Next 125 Years.’
Kwairanga said Africa possessed the demographic, economic and institutional strengths needed to become a major force in global finance.
He called for greater collaboration among African stock exchanges through deeper market integration and easier cross-border investment.
He also advocated enhanced regulatory cooperation and shared market infrastructure to strengthen the continent’s financial ecosystem.
Kwairanga said no African capital market could realise its full potential while operating in isolation from others.
“Stronger connectivity among African markets will increase their attractiveness to both domestic and international investors,” he said.
He said the expectations of a new generation of investors required exchanges to embrace digital transformation, transparency and sustainability.
“Technology, artificial intelligence and improved data will determine the competitiveness of exchanges in the coming decades,” Kwairanga said.
The NGX Group chairman also urged African countries to mobilise more domestic capital to finance development across the continent.
He said pension funds, insurance assets and institutional investors represented substantial pools of long-term capital.
According to him, these resources should be channelled more effectively into African businesses, infrastructure and other productive investments.
Kwairanga acknowledged that foreign investment remained important to Africa’s development and economic growth.
However, he said stronger domestic capital mobilisation would provide greater resilience and promote long-term economic stability.
The NGX Group chairman described Africa’s greatest asset as the ingenuity of its people rather than its natural resources.
He urged policymakers and market operators to build capital markets capable of unlocking innovation and financing enterprise.
Such markets, he added, should also create opportunities for future generations across the continent.
“If we get that right, I believe the next 125 years will see Africa move from being viewed as a frontier of opportunity. “Africa can become a recognised centre of global investment and economic leadership,” Kwairanga said.
