The Director General of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, Emomotimi Agama has stated that Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu endorsed the cryptocurrency industry long before Donald Trump did in the United States.
He revealed that by virtue of his appointment by President Tinubu to head the SEC, the president endorsed the cryptocurrency given his long-standing affinity with the industry.
Mr. Agama made the revelations at the sideline of the African Financial Industry Summit in Casablanca Morocco.
He also touched on other aspects of the African economy with focus on Africa’s capital market integration and reforms.
Mr. Agama was quizzed by Arise TV’s correspondent Rotus Odiri on a range of diverse issues including his motive for attending the event, his outlook for 2025, and his thoughts on cryptocurrency in Nigeria.
“What brought me here to Casablanca is the same thing that brought everybody here. The integration of the African capital market and African financial systems to becoming one straight line being able to deliver service to every African from whatever part that African comes from” Mr Agama said
Speaking on Cryptocurrency in Nigeria, Emomotimi Agama said the current administration has done what needed to be done and credit should be given to President Tinubu for embracing cryptocurrency long before Donald Trump did in the United States.
“I guess you will first give credit to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria GCFR President Bola Ahmed Tinubu even for the appointment he has made in the Nigerian SEC. I have been an enthusiast of Cryptocurrency and the president deemed it fit to make me the DG of the SEC and that is phenomenal. So even before President Trump started thinking about that, our own dear president has already thought about it.
What we have done is that we have been able to do what we needed to do that is why we created what is known as the Regulatory incubation and the accelerated regulatory incubation program” Mr. Agama said
The SEC DG explained that the agency is working towards bringing all the existing crypto exchanges into a box to be able to understand what they are doing and decipher the risk associated with them.
Mr. Agama believes his agency in collaboration with relevant authorities is democratizing the cryptocurrency process in Nigeria for its youth and the rest of Africa.
What to Know
Earlier this year, Quidax crypto exchange and Busha exchange became the first two crypto exchanges to be fully licensed by the Nigerian SEC.
This indicates that the current administration is open to seeing crypto work in the country.
Nigeria has the highest rate of Crypto adoption in Africa and the second highest in the world.