The Securities and Exchange Commission has commended the Nigerian capital market for its performance in recent times.
The Director-General of the commission, Ms. Aruna Oteh, gave the commendation on Wednesday at the Quarter 4 Meeting of the Capital Market Committee of SEC , where an assessment of the performance of its sub-committees was made.
“Our assessment of the performance of the stock market on Tuesday is that it is not just fantastic by global standard; we have seen a growth of 30 per cent of the All Share Index, but it also has breath: it is not just one sector that is driving it,” Oteh said at the meeting, which was held at the SEC office in Lagos.
She, however, expressed the hope that the insurance sector would start to do well.
She added, “We also hope that the oil and gas sector, particularly the downstream sector, which has not done very well, will start to do well. We feel that what the government has done to tackle some of the issues in that sector is very important. We really hope that the Petroleum Industry Bill is promulgated.
“We feel that it is very important for the take-off of the upstream sector, particularly the indigenous sector, to complement some of what we have seen with respect to the rule around the local content. We feel that a number of indigenous companies would want to participate actively in that sector and the PIB, moving forward, will help that.
Oteh said the meeting was particularly dedicated to assessing the activities of the sub committees of the CMC. She subsequently commended the various sub committees for their achievements since they were set up in 2011.
According to her, their achievements have ranged from supporting products and business development, as well as the bond market, thus ensuring that the issues that are important to investors are considered.
She noted that additional projects, including the dematerialisation of share certificates, were being executed, stressing that they would all further strengthen the capital market.
She said, “Compliance and rules are very critical for us and we are hoping that at the end of this year we will be able issue consolidated rules. The industries committee has already completed its work. It is now left to the SEC to review the work it has done and hopefully before the end of this year we would be able to issue the consolidated rules.”
To boost investor confidence, she added, the SEC was working on an investor complaint management framework. She said once the investor confidence sub-committee, along with the capital market solicitors’ trade group, did a final review of the framework, SEC would issue a complaint management guideline.
The Chief Executive Officer, Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange, Mr. Yusuf Abdurrahim, told journalist at the event that the Exchange had been dogged by challenges. He, however,said the Federal Government had realised the importance of the exchange to its agricultural transformation agenda. Therefore, he said, the government was making efforts to ensure that the project was completed within 12 to 15 months.
More Stories in Capital Market
Visit site:
SEC commends capital market performance