THE Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh, has assured international investors that the country’s financial sector is no longer at great risk and that it is now instrumental to improving investor sentiments in the country. Oteh, gave the assurance during the Second Annual Nigerian Capital Markets Workshop in Lagos. She commended the completion of the banks’ restructuring exercise, which she said was Nigeria’s largest services sector. Speaking in a similar vein, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema, briefed the audience, which included the Lord Mayor of the City of London and over 150 delegates, both from and outside Nigeria, on recent steps taken to restore local and foreign investor confidence in the market and the introduction of new products.
Onyema expressed hope that when the economic and market environment becomes steady, companies from sectors such as power, up stream oil and gas, telecom and agriculture would choose the equity route to raising capital, thereby increasing the breadth of the NSE. ‘The Nigerian capital market is undergoing a metamorphosis. While change is an inevitable effect of growth, we must collaborate to do it proactively and strategically in order to become the gateway to African markets’,Onyema said. The event, which was opened by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear, the UK’s financial ambassador, highlighted London’s position as the world’s leading centre for international capital.
Also, the role it can play in both assisting the development of Nigeria’s financial sector and working jointly to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure development. The welcome address was made by Tosin Adewuyi, Senior Country Officer, Nigeria, J.P. Morgan, who spoke about J.P. Morgan’s long standing presence in Nigeria and positive view of the continued development of the Nigerian capital markets. In addition, panel discussions were held on subjects crucial to Nigeria’s current financial and economic environment. Bayo Osolake from J.P. Morgan led a panel that discussed how debt has emerged as an important financing option for Nigerian companies.
The second panel led by the London Stock Exchange’s Head of Primary Markets for Africa, Ibukun Adebayo, concentrated on the financing of Nigeria’s utilities and upstream energy companies, which would soon be tapping capital markets once the government’s ambitious reform agenda makes headway. Adebayo said; ‘Energy and electricity sector reform will go a long way in ensuring that Nigeria becomes the African economic powerhouse of the future. ‘As the world’s largest centre of international equity capital, the natural home of energy, infrastructure and resources companies, the London Stock Exchange is best placed among all global exchanges to finance Nigerian companies in these sectors’, he said.
Alex Ménage, Business Development Manager, Africa for Thomson Reuters, discussed steps that could be taken by the Nigerian corporate sector and the market to enhance international investor perceptions. Ménage said, ‘Thomson Reuters is extremely pleased to sponsor and organize this event in Lagos for the second year running. Our commitment to Nigeria and Africa as a whole continues to grow. ‘This year, for the African Fixed Income community, Thomson Reuters has launched an Auction Solution aimed at providing central banks and debt issuers scalable solutions to facilitate and manage their debt auctions, with full transparency and reliability. ‘In equity, as Nigerian companies are actively competing with other frontier and emerging markets for international capital allocation, they can rely on Thomson Reuters’ suite of investor relations solutions for these activities.
Our presence in the region goes back to early 20th century, and I am proud to say we remain committed to our clients and to help accelerate the momentum of a world class capital markets’ establishment’, Ménage said.
SOURCE: www.portaltoafrica.com
IMAGETEKNG
bnn001
bnn002
