Goddy Egene
The President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr. Olatunde Amolegbe, has urged investors to partner with stockbrokers to minimise risk and maximise returns on their investments.
Amolegbe, who hailed the impressive performance of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) advised local investors to take advantage of superior return on investment (ROI) by increasing their investment in the capital market.
In his 2021 goodwill message to stockbrokers and investors, Amolegbe stated in a year that most economic indicators turned red for Nigeria, aptly summarised by the country’s slump into another round of economic recession in just five years, the Nigerian stock market brought great joy, wealth and fulfillment to millions of investors local and international.
“By close of trading on 31st of December 2020, the NSE All Share Index had achieved an appreciation of 50.03 per cent, making Nigeria the best performing stock markets / investment destinations in the world (a fact duly acknowledged by internationally respected news agencies like Bloomberg and others).
“This is clearly the result of the massive work done by you, chartered stockbrokers, in partnership with our regulators and various trading platforms in the country. We have every reason to be proud and thankful,” he said.
The CIS boss reassured investors that the Nigerian capital market, both equity and debt platforms, remain one of the best, transparent, and reliable outlets available to them for saving and income earning purposes.
“They should therefore return to the market with confidence, patronise stockbrokers for investment advice and eschew quacks.
“However, the index performance alone does not tell the full story of 2020. The corona virus pandemic, which lasted throughout the year, and the more recent social upheavals that trailed the otherwise peaceful #EndSARs protests, combined to set the Nigerian economy back by several trillions of naira, worsening the already fragile and precarious states of unemployment, foreign exchange rate and inflation in the country. None of these prevented us, stockbrokers, from meeting the expectations of our numerous clients, domiciled in Nigeria, Europe, America, and other parts of the world,” he said.
According to Amolegbe, it is on record that the Nigerian stockbroking community was one of the first to embrace the new order forced on the society by the corona virus pandemic.
“The transition to full-blown technology-driven operations was immediate and seamless in the Nigerian capital market. Dealers were trading remotely on a full time basis, new issues were done, and companies were paying dividends and bonuses to their clients as usual. The CIS was a pace setter in the process, as we held our annual conference, presidential investiture and dozens of training programmes virtually and excellently, to the admiration of the rest of the world,” he said.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 2020 as the best performing, recording a growth of 50 per cent.
The return, which was the highest annual growth since 2013, was the most among 93 equity indexes tracked by Bloomberg.
The Nigerian equities market has been riding on low yields in the fixed income market and renewed interest by domestic investors to outperform other global markets.
