Goddy Egene
The stockbroking community has reiterated the need to re-constitute the board of the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and accord the commission a status of independence like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in line with global best practices.
The stockbrokers also urged the federal government to take advantage of
investment opportunities in the capital market to mobilise funds for the execution of development projects, attributing the communication gap between the government and
the market as one of the reasons for government’s inability to use the market to revive the economy.
The President and Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr. Adedapo Adekoje, stated the brokers’ position during an interactive session with federal government’s economic team in Lagos.
According to him, government’s investment through savings bond and similar asset classes could not fully finance infrastructural deficit, hence the urgent need to float revenue bonds and addition to general purpose bonds.
The representative of Vice President and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, who assured stockbrokers of government’s willingness to partner with the market operators to ensure double- digit growth presented various efforts of the government to ensure sustainable growth of the economy.
Enelamah highlighted efforts being made by the government to include: ease of doing business in Nigeria, industrial policy and competitiveness, special economic zones, targeted sector policy reforms and trade agreements.
Also speaking at the session, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Ms Yewande Sadiku explained the efforts being made by the commission to attract investors across the globe into Nigeria through an array of
incentives.
Speaking on ” Strategies to achieve double-digit growth for Nigeria: The capital market option,” a past President of CIS, Mr. Mike Itegboje explained that developed economies leveraged on the capital market for economic growth and development. He therefore urged the government to borrow a leaf from countries such as the United States of America and China which deliberately place premium on utilisation of their capital markets for developmental purposes.
“The U.S. capital markets are the bedrock of the nation’s economy and the deepest and most liquid in the world. That depth and efficiency is evidenced by the size of the gross domestic product, the strength of the US commercial sector, the level of home ownership, and the vast national infrastructure across the fifty states in comparison to the rest of the world,” said Itegboje.
