By Moses Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com —
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ) is to carry out advocacy efforts to relevant Government Agencies such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources on listing of shares of the NNPC.
In his New Year message at the weekend, SEC Director General, Mr. Lamido Yuguda explained that policies would be championed this year to incentivize companies like the new Dangote Refineries to offer its shares to the public and list the shares on any of the SEC-registered platforms.
Also, according to the SEC boss, the commission has concluded plans to organize a capital market conference “to launch a revised version of the 10-year Capital Market Master plan in 2022 to reflect the dynamism of the market and developments in FinTech among others”.
The SEC DG stated that as the Year 2022 commences, the Commission is confident that the results of the various initiatives implemented will begin to gradually manifest, spurring developments in many aspects of the market.
He expressed hope that as the restrictions of Covid-19 and its variants are eased up, the Market will witness renewed confidence expected to introduce fresh investments from domestic and foreign investors.
Explaining further, Yuguda in a statement sent to City Business News said:“As we expect improvements in both economic and capital market activities, we must remain committed to developing the market in line with the 10-year Master Plan. Some of the key initiatives to be pursued in 2022 are as follows: The repeal of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 and passing of the Investment and Securities Bill 2021 to align the enabling law with the realities and trends in capital market regulation and practice in Nigeria;
“In conjunction with the NASD Platform, provide the necessary incentives and support to attract SMEs to get listed. Already, Rules on Crowdfunding to encourage new funding sources for the SMEs have been developed;
“The SEC will continue the enhancement of the existing regulatory framework guiding the operations of the market by keeping pace with the evolving changes in market practices, especially with the advent of Financial Technology and digital assets.
Yuguda said the Commission would improve coordination amongst stakeholders, such as the National Assembly, CBN, PENCOM, CAC, NAICOM, DMO and FIRS to create synergies and further improve upon our effectiveness towards ensuring that the objectives of realising the Capital Market Masterplan are met.
He said, “The SEC will continue with the sensitization programmes and strong capacity building initiatives on Non-Interest Capital Markets products and services in order to attract sub-nationals and corporate issuances to this market segment.
“We also plan to provide extra support to the registered commodities trading platforms to complement government’s renewed diversification efforts in agriculture and carry out workshops to deepen the Commodities Trading Ecosystem”.
