Request for Proposal For Technical Assistance To Support The Securities And Exchange Commission Of Nigeria In The Design And Operationalisation Of A National Savings Scheme (Nss)

Request for proposals for Technical Assistance to Support the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria in the Design and Operationalisation of a National Savings Scheme (NSS) The Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 provides the statutory basis for the National Savings Scheme (NSS) and empowers the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria to regulate its operations and any similar scheme that may subsequently be established. The NSS is intended to mobilise domestic savings, promote financial inclusion, broaden retail participation in the Nigerian capital market and deepen the pool of long-term domestic capital available for economic development. The SEC has identified six priority workstreams for operationalising the NSS: 1. Policy, Legal and regulatory framework; 2. Digital infrastructure and NSS registry; 3. Product development and market readiness; 4. Market development and financial literacy; 5. Financial inclusion and distribution; and 6. Capacity building and institutional strengthening. The SEC has also identified the need for complementary interventions around tax incentives, government incentives and similar other potential linkages with government programmes. FSD Africa intends to provide technical assistance to SEC Nigeria to move from the statutory establishment of the NSS towards a market-ready, scalable and commercially sustainable national savings architecture. A critical starting point for the assignment will be to ensure that the NSS model itself is appropriately designed for Nigeria. International experience demonstrates that national savings schemes can take materially different forms: tax-advantaged investment wrappers, government-backed savings institutions, mandatory or quasi-mandatory savings arrangements, pension-linked schemes, retail government securities platforms, or combinations of these approaches. The SECs initial assessment identifies Canadas Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), the UKs ISA and the UKs National Savings and Investments (NS&I) as relevant precedents. Accordingly, this assignment will not treat the architecture of the NSS as predetermined. It will first assess alternative models, benchmark relevant international and African experiences, examine Nigerian market conditions and consumer behaviour, and generate and assess design options before recommending the optimal architecture and implementation model for Nigeria. Objective of the Assignment The overall objective of the assignment is to provide SEC Nigeria with the strategic, regulatory, institutional, product, digital and market-development foundations required to design and operationalise an effective National Savings Scheme. More specifically, the assignment will: strengthen and/or identify and assess alternative and complimentary models for a Nigerian NSS; benchmark relevant international and African national savings schemes; determine the design features most relevant to Nigerias demographic, economic, financial-sector and capital-market context; develop a preferred NSS architecture and implementation model; propose the key legal, regulatory and institutional framework required for implementation; propose the framework for the design of the digital infrastructure and registry architecture; provide recommendations for initial suite of appropriate savings and investment products; including the distribution and financial-inclusion model; provide recommendations for market development, financial literacy and consumer engagement; provide recommendations for strengthening SEC and relevant institutional capacity; and develop a practical roadmap for piloting, scaling and continuously improving the NSS. The assignment should ultimately leave SEC Nigeria with a clear and evidence-based NSS blueprint. 3. Scope of Work 3.1. NSS Design and International Benchmarking: Review existing recommendations for Nigeria NSS Structure and provide recommendations to strengthen or provide alternatives and/or complimentary approaches Undertake a structured benchmarking exercise covering relevant national savings and retail investment models Identify policy and regulatory reforms (including but not limited to taxation, incentives etc) that need to be put in place to make the initiative successful 3.2. Establish the legal, regulatory and supervisory architecture required to operationalise the selected NSS model under the ISA 2025: Review the existing statutory basis for the NSS and develop draft NSS Rules and Guidelines, identify required amendments to existing regulations where necessary, Among others, the draft NSS Rules and Guidelines shall Tender Link : https://www.developmentaid.org/#!/tenders/search