There was a time when Nigeria’s problem was not money but how to spend it. Today, Nigeria’s problem is finding the money.
  
A Senior Fellow and Associate Professor at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Doyin Salami, quoted the former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, during his speech at ‘The Quorum’, the flagship investor forum organised by Anchoria to navigate today’s evolving investment landscape under the theme ‘Positioning For Growth: Investment Opportunities In A Changing Market’ in Lagos during the week.
  
The economist who served as Chief Economic Adviser to former President Muhammadu Buhari dissected his lecture on the thematic preoccupation into three sections: the current state of capital market; investment opportunities in a changing capital market and implications of capital market positioning.
  
Salami stated that Nigeria is coming out of hard economy times into recovery and growing, GDP is expanding, its currency is more stable and inflation is easing, the naira is trading a calmer range and monetary policy has become more stable giving room for investment opportunities, but full optimism has arrived yet. Thus there is a need to protect these opportunities especially in a changing financial market through Clear rules; Regulations and Policies, globally and domestically.
  
He said: “The rapid concentration of wealth at the top represents more than a statistical curiosity; it is a stark reflection of a middle class eroded by systemic inflation, currency devaluation, and decades of structural de-industrialisation. This is why Nigeria’s richest one percent now controls 44 percent of the nation’s total wealth. Twenty years ago, that figure stood at 25 percent.”
 
Salami noted that systemic decay of the real sector is one of the factors responsible for this decay. In the early 1980s, manufacturing and industrial output accounted for nearly 60 percent of Nigeria’s economic output. Today, that figure has plummeted to about 17 per cent.

“When factories close and supply chains break, capital flees from real production into speculative paper assets or real estate, it results in high yield for asset-owners at the very top and persistent underemployment for everyone else. Reversing this trend requires capital market operators who do not simply trade existing wealth, but actively facilitate new productive capacity.
  
“Also, the devalued purchasing power has paralysed the government’s ability to fund public infrastructure, health, and education. While we can’t discard government efforts on tax reform, it is not going to provide the immediate required fiscal space, thus Nigeria’s path out of stagnant growth relies entirely on unlocking private institutional capital,” Salami said.
  
The Group Managing Director, Anchoria, Sam Chidoka who noted that ‘The Quorum’ was created to provide practical and informed conversations on investment and wealth creation, emphasised that modern brokerage firms must act as financial engines rather than passive middlemen.
  
Managing Director, Anchoria, Esther Ugwu also noted that in a volatile macroeconomic environment marked by shifting interest rates, FX volatility, and global capital reallocation, wealth preservation requires shifting from reactive investing to deliberate, long-term asset positioning.
  
She said: “The forum was conceived to help participants better understand evolving economic realities, including interest rate movements, inflation, exchange rate fluctuations, technological innovation, regulatory changes and global capital flows, all of which continue to shape investment decisions and long-term wealth creation. Successful investment is driven by informed decisions, discipline and the ability to anticipate changes in the market rather than reacting to them.”
  
The Quorum which featured a panel session of experts in the industry such as Arinze Ononwu, Abayomi Oluyomi, Dr Ola Brown, Chido Onyilimba and the moderator, Ugochukwu Obi-Chukwu, emphasised on the necessity for ssystemic reset in a country with a high percentage of poverty rate while over 40 percent of national wealth sits with one percent of the population.
  
Anchoria is currently ranked among the top 15 brokerage firms on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and the top three on the NASD OTC market. The firm is pushing to break into the top 10 on the NGX and claim the lead spot on the NASD platform before the end of 2026.