Nigeria has a troubled history with shares, where promises of ownership have repeatedly separated ordinary citizens from their savings. Between 2007 and 2009, an estimated N800 billion was funnelled into private placements that promised future listings on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, but those listings never materialised, trapping investors' funds and causing liquidity to vanish. The Securities and Exchange Commission was accused of looking the other way while companies treated the capital market as a private hunting ground. Examples include IGI Plc, which raised N2.9 billion in 2006 and remains in the 'Red' category on the NASD OTC platform with no liquidity, and Afribank, which used depositors' funds to purchase 80 per cent of its own initial public offering at N25 per share when the market price was N11.
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