Capital markets were at the heart of Nigeria’s financial turmoil four years ago. Their collapse in the 10 months from March 2008, a period in which the country’s main equity index saw almost two-thirds of its value wiped out, led to foreign portfolio investors fleeing and a crisis in Nigeria's banking sector from which some lenders are only just recovering.
The rehabilitation of the capital markets has thus been a priority for the government. The process has largely been led by Arunma Oteh, who was brought in to head Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in early 2010, and is viewed as one of the country’s key economic reformers.
