By Suleyman A. Ndanusa
Nigeria’s development discourse has traditionally been framed around familiar objectives of economic growth, poverty reduction, employment generation, industrialization, infrastructure development, and, more recently, financial inclusion. These are important aspirations. Yet beneath them lies a more fundamental question that is seldom asked but may ultimately determine the success or failure of all the others.
Who owns the economy?
The answer to this question matters because prosperity is not determined solely by how much wealth a nation creates. It is equally determined by who owns that wealth. Economic growth can coexist with widespread poverty if ownership of productive assets remains concentrated. Conversely, even modest economic growth can produce broad based prosperity when ownership is widely distributed across society.
The true dividing line between inclusive and exclusive economies is therefore not simply income; it is ownership.
This distinction is particularly important for Nigeria. Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made in expanding access to financial services. Millions of Nigerians who were once excluded from the formal financial system now possess bank accounts, mobile wallets, payment cards, and access to digital financial services. The fintech revolution has transformed the economics of payments, transfers, savings, and financial access.
Yet financial inclusion and wealth inclusion are not the same thing.
A citizen may own a bank account without owning productive assets. A trader may use digital payment platforms every day without holding a single investment. A salary earner may save regularly without participating in the ownership of businesses, infrastructure, or capital markets. In such circumstances, financial inclusion improves convenience but does not necessarily create wealth.
The next frontier of national development must therefore move beyond financial inclusion toward ownership inclusion.
The challenge before policymakers is no longer simply how to bring more Nigerians into the financial system. It is how to bring more Nigerians into the ownership economy.
This distinction is more than semantic. It reflects a profound shift in development philosophy. For decades, economic policy has focused primarily on income generation. While income remains important, sustainable prosperity depends on asset accumulation. Income finances current consumption. Ownership creates future wealth.
The societies that have successfully built large and resilient middle classes have done so not merely by creating jobs but by expanding ownership. Home ownership, pension assets, mutual funds, employee share ownership schemes, investment clubs, cooperative enterprises, and retail participation in capital markets have historically served as the foundations upon which broad based prosperity was built.
The rise of the middle class in many advanced economies was not driven solely by rising wages. It was driven by rising ownership.
This insight carries important implications for Nigeria.
If economic development is to become genuinely inclusive, ownership must become a deliberate national objective rather than an incidental by product of growth. The country requires what may be described as a National Ownership Strategy, a coordinated framework designed to expand citizen participation in the ownership of productive assets.
Such a strategy should begin with universal investment participation.
The objective should be simple but transformative. Every Nigerian should have a realistic pathway to becoming an investor.
This does not imply that every citizen must become a stock market expert or a sophisticated portfolio manager. Rather, it means creating simple, accessible, and affordable mechanisms through which ordinary households can acquire stakes in productive assets. Whether through equities, mutual funds, pension products, infrastructure funds, exchange traded funds, cooperative investments, or other vehicles, the principle remains the same. Economic growth should create opportunities for ownership.
Technology has made this objective more achievable than ever before.
The first generation of fintech innovation democratized payments. The second democratized savings. The third has the potential to democratize ownership.
Digital platforms now enable fractional investing, automated contributions, portfolio transparency, financial education, and access to diversified investment opportunities at unprecedented scale. The barriers that once restricted investing to affluent households are rapidly disappearing.
A young graduate in Kano can invest through a mobile device. A teacher in Minna can participate in a diversified investment fund with modest periodic contributions. A trader in Lagos can build an investment portfolio without ever entering a stockbroking office. A farmer in Kebbi can acquire exposure to investment opportunities that would previously have been inaccessible.
Technology is reducing the minimum scale of participation in wealth creation.
This transformation creates an important role for investment clubs and community based investing.
Historically, Nigerians have demonstrated remarkable capacity for collective savings through cooperatives, thrift societies, rotating savings schemes, and community associations. These institutions have long provided mechanisms for mutual support and capital mobilization. The challenge now is to evolve from collective saving to collective investing.
Investment clubs can become the grassroots institutions of a national ownership movement. They combine financial literacy, social trust, savings discipline, and collective investment. They transform investing from an intimidating technical exercise into a community experience. Most importantly, they cultivate a culture of ownership.
Every successful investment club creates more than a portfolio. It creates investors.
Every member becomes a participant in capital formation.
Every contribution becomes a step toward wealth accumulation.
Beyond community ownership lies another critical frontier: employee ownership.
Many Nigerian workers contribute significantly to the creation of corporate value without participating meaningfully in the wealth generated by the enterprises they help build. This represents a missed opportunity for both businesses and society. Employee share ownership schemes can align the interests of labour and capital while providing workers with an avenue for long term wealth accumulation.
Similarly, infrastructure ownership deserves greater attention within national development policy.
Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit remains one of the most significant constraints on economic growth. Yet infrastructure should not be viewed solely as a public expenditure challenge. It should also be viewed as an ownership opportunity.
Power plants, transport systems, logistics networks, digital infrastructure, ports, railways, and utilities generate long term economic value. Through innovative investment structures, citizens can participate directly in financing and owning these assets. Such arrangements would deepen domestic capital formation while simultaneously broadening participation in national development.
Citizens would become more than users of infrastructure. They would become owners of it.
The broader objective is to build an ownership ecosystem.
Ownership creation cannot be delegated to a single institution. It requires orchestration across multiple actors.
Government must provide strategic direction and enabling policies. Regulators must ensure investor protection and market integrity. Capital markets must provide access and liquidity. Pension funds must mobilize long term savings. Financial institutions must expand participation channels. Fintech firms must lower barriers to entry. Educational institutions must promote financial literacy. Community organizations must mobilize grassroots participation.
Each actor plays a different role, but all contribute to the same outcome: expanding ownership.
This is why ownership should be viewed not merely as a financial objective but as a development objective.
A society of consumers generates demand.
A society of workers generates output.
A society of entrepreneurs generates innovation.
But a society of owners generates enduring prosperity.
Ownership changes the relationship between citizens and the economy. It creates alignment between personal aspirations and national progress. It strengthens economic resilience. It promotes long term thinking. It deepens social cohesion. It transforms growth from an abstract macroeconomic indicator into a tangible personal reality.
Ultimately, the success of a nation should not be measured solely by the size of its economy but by the breadth of participation in its prosperity.
For too long, development has been discussed primarily in terms of production and distribution.
The time has come to place ownership at the centre of the conversation.
Nigeria’s next economic transformation should not be defined merely by the expansion of financial services, the growth of digital transactions, or even the increase in national output. It should be defined by the expansion of ownership.
The most important question for the next generation of economic policy may therefore be remarkably simple:
How many Nigerians own a stake in the nation’s future?
The answer to that question may determine whether economic growth becomes a statistic or a shared national experience.
The future belongs not merely to nations that create wealth.
It belongs to nations that create owners.
In the words of the Chairman, Heirs Insurance, Tony Elumelu, we must work towards democratizing prosperity.
*Suleyman A. Ndanusa is Chairman, Heirs Insurance Board Governance Committee & past DG/Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission.
