Promoters and operators of entities engaged in a prohibited scheme is liable to a penalty of not less than 20 million Naira or imprisonment to a term of 10 years or both.

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Emomotimi Agama, said the penalties are one of the provisions of the newly signed Investments and Securities Act, ISA, 2025.

He said the new Act would strengthen the legal framework governing Nigeria’s capital market, stressing that the commission previously lacked the legal power to prosecute Ponzi scheme operators, which had made it difficult to bring offenders to justice.

Agama stressed that the Act would help the commission to better protect investors, and introduce reforms that would promote market integrity, transparency, and sustainable growth.

9News Nigeria reports that part of the statement were; ”So, N20 million is not the entire penalty or the entire money that will be charged or sanctioned to any suspecting or any accused capital market or non-capital market operator.

”It is just part of the penalties and or the sanctions that will be meted against such persons.

”Any profits or gains obtained from defrauding Nigerians will be recovered because it is not about the quantum of the fraud, it is about sanctions that will deter people from even getting into it.

”We recognise that a lot of Nigerians have fallen prey to these schemes and the reason why that is the case is because there were no sanctions.

”Protecting the investors in Nigeria is a cardinal responsibility of SEC and this law has provided the SEC with stronger powers to be able to do that,” he said.

9News Nigeria reports that President Bola Tinubu recently assented to the Act.