BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
The Securities and Exchange Commission says it will refocus its attention on ways to galvanize the capital market money for infrastructure financing in 2024 for economic growth and development.
The Director-General of SEC, Lamido Yuguda, said this at the third quarter post-Capital Market Committee news briefing on Friday in Lagos.
Yuguda said the key priorities of the commission in 2024 would centre on infrastructure development and investor education to enhance capital market growth and sustain investor confidence.
Yuguda said the commission would support the Federal Government to unlock the full potential of the capital market in addressing infrastructure deficits.
“One of the most glaring problems of the country is the sorry state of a lot of our infrastructure and really the goal of the commission in 2024 is to refocus attention on how we can galvanize capital market money into financing infrastructure,” he said.
The Director-General expressed optimism about unlocking the full potential of the capital market in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu
Yuguda said that achieving a one-trillion dollar economy by the end of 2026 was possible if the capital market could be properly harnessed.
“This country has what it takes to really do this, this is the direction of the government and this is what SEC is doing to galvanize the market to help finance infrastructure for the people,” Yuguda added.
He disclosed that the commission had set up a group within the capital market to look at the things to be done to achieve the desired goal.
“This is something that is really important for us at SEC, if you look at our country, it’s one of the most significant countries on the earth, not many countries have over 100 million people living in them.
“We have over 200 million people and are still growing. We have a lot of young people leaving; we have a lot of our other adults already out of the country.
“And these people are helping these countries with a lot of good ideas. Now some form of migration is necessary and beneficial. But if that migration is happening because people do not see opportunities here, then we can do something about it.
“And I believe if we do the right things, we will not only retain good talents, but will also attract talents from other parts of the world to come and help really build this,” Yuguda said.
He added that the commission would embark on massive investor education in 2024 to educate and enlighten investors on the potential and technicalities of the capital market.
“When you have a market that is literate, it is better; you have people who really understand what they are seeking and they are really happy with those risks.
“When everybody strategically enters the market and is armed with good information, you really have the power of influence. The issue of investor interest is the issue of public awareness,” he added
Yuguda said the E-Dividend Mandate Technical Committee presented an update during the CMC on the collaborative project with the Institute of Capital Market Registrars and NIBSS to enhance the e-dividend portal.
The Director-General reaffirmed that the enhanced portal would be launched on or before November 30, 2023.
He noted that 18 out of 19 registrars had submitted updated data on Un-Mandated Accounts for upload.
On stock market performance, he observed that market participation had remained heavily skewed to domestic investors.
He attributed the 36.67 per cent performance of the NGX All-Share Index to attractive yields of some stocks, improved sentiments among domestic retail investors, fiscal and monetary policy shifts, inability of T-Bills and other fixed income instruments to positive real return.
