Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda has called on stakeholders in the Nigeria capital market to encourage Micro Small and Medium Enterprises to join the capital market.
Yuguda made the call when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Capital Market to defend the commission’s 2021 budget proposal.
In his words: “I encourage all the stakeholders present here to strategise on how to encourage Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and multinational companies to participate in the Nigeria capital market.”
The Director general also hinted that the capital market will soon be strengthened with finance technology.
Fintech relates to any business that uses technology to enhance or automate financial services and processes, thereby fixing problems in financial infrastructure. Fintech companies operate by receiving information from customers before helping them make a payment, refund a sale, look up details of a transaction, and set up a billing plan, among other things.
On the plans to launch into the technology, Yuguda said: “We are implementing the Fintech road map. We are also contextualising the regulatory independent framework to board the technology into the capital market. We have just released draft rules for crowdfunding in our regulation and very soon we will be releasing these rules to the public.”
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Ibikunle Amosun, called for the strengthening of the country’s commodity exchanges to make the market robust and functional.
He said: “We know a lot more can be done, so we urge you to do more, especially to introduce new products and consolidate on the existing ones, carry out research on other capital markets across the globe to align with global best practices.”
Amosun also tasked stakeholders in the sector to work towards the domestication of Nigerian products to encourage local investors.
“The capital market needs to re-activate our alternate market and bring on board unlisted multinational companies in order to develop a robust market. These informal sectors, as we are all aware, are a driving force that will dominate our nation’s economy.
