Capital market, viable source of funds for transformation goals - Senate

Senator Bukola Saraki

Capital market, viable source of funds for transformation goals - Senate
Hauwa Noroh Ali, Abuja

The Nigerian capital market has been identified as a viable source of capital for Nigeria to achieve its transformation goals.

Senator Bukola Saraki, Member of the Senate Committee on the Capital Market, at the sideline of Nigeria's Security and Exchange Commission annual investment forum in Abuja, said that Nigeria needs about 40 percent of its GDP which is 180 billion dollars to achieve this.

Restoring investor’s confidence

He said that the government cannot finance this development without going to the capital markets.

In his words, “If you talk about transformation in Nigeria today, the government cannot do it as the cost required is 40 percent of GDP if you do the sums, that’s about 180 billion dollars and government does not have that money. Capital markets are key to getting this money and the only place government can get this money effortlessly is from the capital market.”

He pointed out that there was need to bring back investor’s confidence to the capital market to enable foreign investors invest in the market and equally encourage Nigerians to invest in the capital markets.

Senator Saraki noted that there were certain sectors that were not in the capital market and recommended that they be encouraged to enlist on the Nigerian Stock Exchange to enhance capital base as this is critical in the transformation agenda of the country.

“What we need to do is to encourage them to enlist on the stock exchange, sectors like telecommunication, oil and gas the upstream side these are the things that can allow the capital markets to grow and provide funding for the infrastructure growth that Nigeria seriously requires,” he said.

He said that the journey of fifty years that the Securities and Exchange Commission has been able to achieve is commendable and also timely in the sense that a lot of reforms have gone to change the mistakes of the past

Investment haven

Saraki noted: “What is happening globally is the fact that the economy is not growing well in developed countries and investors are looking for new markets which puts Nigeria in a very good position to take advantage of this.”

Enhanced legislation

Senator Saraki said that the National Assembly would enhance legislation to ensure that the Capital market is strengthen, secured, investor friendly and geared towards making it the preferred destination for investors home and abroad.

He said that the Senate was looking at how to strengthen the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory and monitoring powers, how to make the capital market safe, how to make Nigerians feel that their investments are safe and that they were well advised and other incentives that can be given in that sector.

Saraki further said that the Senate was also looking at how the pension funds managers could be encouraged to ensure that the funds were geared towards making more money go into the capital market and strengthen the sector.

Williams