According to foreign investors in Nigeria’s financial system, contradictory rules and procedures, are preventing investors from entering the nation.
They said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and various government agencies have imposed numerous rules and restrictions on Nigeria.
According to Simon Lee, CEO of Hong Kong-based Fintech business Tripeak., Investors may be reluctant to make significant financial commitments to an economy if they fear that regulations may be abruptly modified, causing their investments to lose value.
Lee made this statement during the African Financial Market Conference on Saturday, in Abuja (AFMC 1.0).
He said, “For a country to grow, there must be an increase in productivity. To do that basically, you need to get more things done in less time. So when we talk of revolutionising the Nigerian Market, it means making things more efficient and getting more things done in less time. For our technology Fintech, what we do is provide a seamless pipeline for Nigerian individuals and traders to access the global financial market. The faster they can access the market, the better price they can get, the better results they will have in improvement in productivity.
“I have visited Nigeria three times and from the people that I have spoken to, the picture that I get is basically that the rules and regulations are very contradictory. For example, the CBN will say one thing, the legal department will say another and the President will maybe say a third thing. So all these competing viewpoints go about in the media, social space and when you have this much confusion, people don’t know what do.”
According to Lee, investors who are willing to invest large sums of money will weigh the risk and delay making a purchase because of the uncertainty.
“So if you streamline the regulations, even if it is strict and tough, if you make it very clear and concise, people can move forward. They can know what to expect. People are not going to be afraid that maybe in a few months someone might change the rules and all investments will go up in smoke.
This year’s conference, according to Tradecland Director Amarachi Ihechirimadu, is titled “Demystifying the Digital Market in Africa.”
She said Africa is behind in comparison to other continents regarding technologies, and that “Tradeclandfx has come to Africa to teach and explain to people of Africa the opportunity for every young African to become independent by investing in the global financial market.”
