By Onu Okorie

Vice-President Kashim Shettima will on October 19 serve as Special Guest of Honour at the 2026 National Capital Market Conference in Abuja, where the Federal Government and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are expected to unveil a new National Savings Scheme and the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan 2.0 (NCMMP 2.0).
The initiatives are aimed at mobilising domestic savings, widening participation in the capital market and strengthening the market’s role in financing Nigeria’s economic growth and development.
The conference, scheduled for the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will bring together policymakers, regulators and private-sector stakeholders to deliberate on strategies for deepening Nigeria’s capital market and expanding access to investment opportunities.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, will serve as Chief Host, while the SEC Director-General, Emomotimi Agama, will host the conference.
The unveiling of the NCMMP 2.0 marks a major phase in the SEC’s efforts to establish a long-term framework for the development of the Nigerian capital market.
Agama described the master plan as a 10-year strategy that would guide the growth and development of the market, adding that it would provide a framework for measuring progress and implementing reforms across the sector.
According to him, the endorsement of the Vice-President would be important to the effective implementation of the plan.
The conference will also feature presentations of reports from the Capital Market Committee Technical Working Groups, as well as the inauguration of the NCMMP 2.0 Project Steering Committee and the Capital Market Master Plan Implementation Committee.
Savings scheme targets wider participation
A major feature of the conference will be the launch of the National Savings Scheme, which the SEC said is designed to bring more Nigerians into the savings and investment ecosystem.
Agama said the scheme would operate primarily as an inclusion mechanism, providing Nigerians across different income groups with an opportunity to save and invest for the future.
He disclosed that tax incentives would be introduced to encourage participation, linking the initiative to the Federal Government’s broader fiscal policy direction.
Under the proposed arrangement, citizens earning below a specified income threshold could benefit from tax relief, potentially increasing their disposable income and capacity to save and invest.
“The National Savings Scheme is principally an inclusion tool: every Nigerian is given the opportunity to save, and those savings will be invested for the future,” Agama said.
The scheme therefore places domestic savings mobilisation at the centre of efforts to broaden participation in the capital market, with the proposed incentives expected to encourage households to build savings and investment portfolios.
SEC targets capital market-led growth
The SEC said the conference forms part of its broader programme to strengthen Nigeria’s capital market as a vehicle for economic growth and national development.
The regulator said the NCMMP 2.0 and National Savings Scheme would provide a platform for stakeholders to consider ways of mobilising more domestic capital, increasing investor participation and directing savings towards productive investment.
The focus on domestic savings comes as policymakers seek to deepen the pool of local capital available to businesses and government while reducing dependence on external sources of financing.
The October 19 conference is consequently expected to set the tone for the next decade of capital-market development, with stakeholders examining regulatory, fiscal and investment measures required to make the Nigerian market more inclusive, competitive and capable of supporting long-term economic development