The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for sustained policy consistency and operational resilience across Nigeria’s financial system, following the country’s placement on the S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) 2027 watchlist for possible reclassification from a standalone to a frontier market.

Director-General of SEC, Dr Emomotimi Agama, who gave the charge in a strategy and position paper titled “Nigeria’s Path to Index Reclassification: A Unified Strategy on Policy Consistency and Operational Resilience,” said the S&P DJI decision, alongside an ongoing frontier market review by FTSE Russell, represents the country’s most significant opportunity in a decade to regain global investors’ confidence and attract increased foreign portfolio investment.

According to him, Nigeria has moved beyond the stage of designing reforms, with international index providers now focused on whether existing policies are implemented consistently or the country’s market infrastructure performs reliably under normal and stressed conditions.

Agama said that the parallel review by FTSE Russell was triggered partly by Nigeria’s successful migration to a T+1 settlement cycle in June 2026, placing the country ahead of many frontier and several emerging markets in settlement efficiency.

He said although both index providers use different methodologies, they are essentially assessing the same issues, including foreign exchange repatriation, settlement integrity, regulatory consistency and infrastructure reliability.

The SEC boss warned that policy reversals, discretionary regulatory actions, retroactive directives or restrictions on foreign exchange access could undermine Nigeria’s chances of securing a frontier market classification.

He, however, identified five pillars of policy consistency required by global index providers to include durability of the foreign exchange regime, uniform regulatory enforcement, avoidance of retroactive policy changes, coordination among fiscal, monetary and regulatory authorities, and predictable enforcement of investors’ rights through the judicial system.

Agama, therefore, said that Nigeria must demonstrate sustained performance under its new T+1 settlement regime, efficient foreign exchange repatriation, deep and liquid FX markets, resilient market infrastructure, orderly trading during periods of volatility and continuous performance throughout the observation window.