The House of Representatives disclosed that a capital market is a viable option that should be utilized to rescue the Nigerian economy from collapse, especially with the impending downturn in the global economy.
Speaking during a meeting with the new management of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions, Hon. Babangida Ibrahim, stated that the National Assembly, aware of this critical role of SEC, would provide the necessary support to the commission by way of enabling laws to aid the growth of the capital market.
In a statement issued after the meeting in Abuja, Ibrahim disclosed that with the issues currently facing the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a capital market is an option that can rescue the economy from collapse.
He said: “The meeting with the new management of the SEC has been very fruitful. We had discussions on some of the challenges that the market is presently facing. We have all agreed that there is need to work together to substantially reduce these challenges. These challenges include policy issues, legislative issues and can also be operational issues.
“But what is important is that we have all agreed that there is need to look inwards to see how best we can boost confidence in the market and to also make sure that the process of investing in the capital market is as simple as possible.”
Ibrahim added that the National Assembly was ready to work with the SEC to ensure that the processes in the capital market were as easy as possible to allow free entry and exit to investors.
“We want to see at the end of the day that there is easy entry and exit and that the processes are as simple as possible. People should be able to buy and sell at their convenience without any complexity in the process. You can invest in the market today and decide to divest tomorrow, you get your little profit and move on.
“We all agreed that these type of discussions will be as regular as possible, we will continue to exchange of ideas and be honest and sincere in our approach to ensure that we bring a new lease of life to the Nigerian capital market,” he noted.
Ibrahim, therefore, urged investors to continue to be patient as the issues are worked out to further boost confidence in the market, adding that the National Assembly would note the key areas that require amendments, like the laws; policies that require change; procedures that require adjustments among others and work on them.
He said: “We wish to tell investors that they should continue to be patient with us as we work out these issues to boost their confidence. We are aware of their plight especially their experiences in the recent past, but we will do our best to restore confidence in the market. We want to assure investors that with the new Management we have now at the SEC, we are going to take the capital market to the next level.”
In his remarks, Director General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, commended the Committee for its interest in making the capital market transparent and more investor-friendly.
Yuguda said, “This committee is very important to us at SEC. We have had very useful discussions with the Chairman and he has assured SEC of the co-operation and support of this committee as we set out to discharge our responsibilities.
“The National Assembly and the SEC are very passionate about the same things like investor protection and making the capital market processes less cumbersome so that investors can access their monies more readily than it is at the moment. We hope to work together to achieve a capital market that we would all be proud of.”
