Securities dealers in Nigeria have concluded arrangements to review strategies for the nation’s economic growth and development at an interface scheduled to bring top- level financial experts and government functionaries together in Abuja on Thursday, August 19.
The forum, tagged National Workshop with the theme, “Leveraging the financial markets to achieve double digit economic growth for Nigeria”, is being organised to identify the gaps in the government’s utilisation of the financial market and the way forward
The President, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr. Olatunde Amolegbe, in a statement said the national workshop’s theme was timely in view of the various challenges facing the financial market and the need to reposition the market for optimal utilization by all sectors.
“As financial engineers and wealth creators, we advise the governments regularly, on the imperative of utilizing the financial market to build infrastructure. This is the basis for this year’s workshop theme. Our market is largely untapped despite its potential to generate revenue for accelerated infrastructure development.
“The workshop is specially packaged to enable top level decision makers in the government and private sector to come up with initiatives that will enhance overall development of the economy through investment opportunities in the financial market.
Over the years, successive governments at all tiers had taken advantage of the market to execute development projects. This model should be renewed as one of the ways to minimize incessant government borrowing.
It is not a gain saying that there is a correlation between the development of capital market and the economy. We have assembled seasons market regulators and operators to do justice to the Workshop Theme and come up with a blueprint to enable the government chart a normal course for overall development of the economy,” Amolegbe said.
On the list of participants are the Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. Boss Mustapha, state governors, ministers. Senators and chief executive officers of leading organizations in the financial market.
Analysts have maintained that Nigeria had always presented an atmosphere of many fault lines as one of them said : “ Rent seeking professionals have I’m taken over the entire economy, forex market, growth is abysmally sluggish and our external reserve is under threat, purchasing power is thinning out as disposable income shrinks daily, unemployment has become a nightmare, foreign investors’ apathy to Nigeria’s business environment, including insecurity real and private equity experts are reluctant to risk their investible funds . The embattled Naira value is expected to further weaken with the ban of Bureau de Change operators from sale of forex by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
