By Chukwuma Umeorah 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has advised young investors in the capital market to ensure that they patronise only registered and recognised entities and ensure that they completely avoid Ponzi schemes. The advice was given as part of efforts by the Commission in its campaign to create awareness among the youths and young people and further attract them to the capital market. 

The Director, Market Development Department of the SEC, Nestor Ikeagu, stated this during the celebration of the Global Money Week (GMW) 2023 enlightenment campaign to School for the Gifted in Abuja. 

GMW is an annual global awareness raising campaign on the importance of ensuring that young people from an early age are financially aware, and are gradually acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience. 

Ikeagu urged young discerning investors to always refer to the SEC’s website where there is a list of registered fund managers recognised by the commission in order to verify the products they are offering to the public. He mentioned that there are various products available in the capital market that could appeal to the youths and urged them to plan, save and invest in the capital market. 

While stressing the importance of the enlightenment campaign, he however advised the young investors to be weary of existing and emerging fraudulent activities which he stressed could affect the future of their investments.  

In his words, “It is also important to educate these young minds that as they plant their future, they should be mindful of some fraudulent activities such as Ponzi schemes that can mar the growth of that financial future.”  A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors.

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It is a fraudulent investing scam which generates returns for earlier investors with money taken from later investors. It involves paying existing investors in a non-existing enterprise with the funds collected from new investors. 

Senior Manager Financial Inclusion Department of the SEC, Ngozi Obi, while addressing the students specifically said that “the aim of our visit here today is to create awareness to the youth as part of the financial literacy to educate the youth and get them acquainted with the financial culture to enable them make informed decisions before investments.” 

She added that it is an annual global awareness raising campaign on the importance of ensuring that young people from an early age are financially aware and are gradually acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills.   

Speaking earlier, Principal of the School, Rilwan Abubakar expressed appreciation to the SEC for choosing the school for the awareness campaign saying that it is a special day for the students who stand to benefit a lot to enable them to learn how to invest. 

“We are very excited that the SEC has decided to hold this event in our school. It is a global money week with the aim educating the youth on finances and creating awareness to be financially disciplined, and we know our students will benefit greatly from this”.