Imported User:
In a bid to shore up confidence in the Nigeria capital market, members of the National Assembly (NASS) have promised to assist the market in restoring investors confidence.
Addressing the market community at the Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting held at the Lagos office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the leadership of the house at both the Senate and the House of Representatives promised to be part of confidence building efforts in the stock market.
Specifically, Hon. Herman Hembe, the Chairman of the House Committee who was at the quarterly meeting for the first time, said he was impressed with the meeting and promised that the house will help the capital market in ensuring sustained growth in the market. “We are very happy with what we are seeing here today and we, on our part, will do whatever is necessary to support the capital market”.
The Chairman Senate Committee on Capita market, Senator Adeseun who was represented by the Clerk of the Committee, Barr. Sammy Efetia, also expressed pleasure in the meeting.
Meanwhile, the various confidence building strategies recently embarked upon by the new management at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have started to yield positive results as the market performance on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been on the increase in recent times.
Apart from the NSE All-Share index which went up drastically in the last two weeks, the market capitalisation which was around N6 trillion went up to N7 trillion in the period while volumes of shares traded upon in the period also increased.
Market operators linked the performance to a number of reasons, including the new posture and actions taken by the new management of the Commission. These, according to them, include the recent registration meeting the commission held in Lagos, timely treatment of requests being made to the commission and various meetings the new management held with various stakeholders in the market
For instance Emeka Madubike, President Association of Stockbroking Houses Owners of Nigeria (ASHON) said if sustained, the confidence building posture of the new team in the Commission will surely put the market on the part of growth.
“You can see the atmosphere of the meeting. It is very friendly, open, people are freer to express themselves and this will result in positive ways to move the market forward. The Acting Director General is also very positive because he knows where the shoes pinches” Madubuke declared.
“The issue of Registration in Lagos is also a big plus for the Acting DG, Ibrahim Bolaji Bello. This is what we have been advocating for because it is a means of reducing cost of getting more operators into the market and also make us meet some regulatory requirements.
“In fact, his initial steps are very good and we hope he sustains it”.
