Goddy Egene
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said it will continue to educate and enlighten Nigerians about the investment opportunities available in the market.
The acting Director General of SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk, who stated this, added that advised potential investors to engage professionals who will guide them on relevant products to invest in.
“In the past people just go to stockbrokers to buy stocks without having proper knowledge of what to buy but now we are encouraging people to go through the investment schemes. If you don’t know anything about stocks go through collective investment schemes (CIS) and invest in different stocks so that professionals can manage your investments. If I am a welder for instance and I don’t know anything about investments, I can put my money there and professionals will manage it for me,” she added.
According to her, an investment does not need much more to participate in the market
“For instance, with the government bond, the minimum investable amount is N10,000 and you can buy in subsequent amounts of N1,000. We have CIS, we have the stocks that you can buy through the stockbrokers and those you can invest in with as little as N5,000. So you don’t necessarily have to have a lot of money to invest, all you need is to approach the stockbrokers. They can open an account for you and whatever you have you can pay into the account and give instructions in what kind of investments you want to make.”
She said it is important for people to understand the workings of the capital market and not have the misconception that they must have a lot of money before they can invest.
“We have to disabuse our minds of it. I think that is what is leading people into putting money into Ponzi schemes and lose their money. So all you need to do is to go to SEC website see the list of capital market operators and approach one of them to open an account” she said.
