By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has extolled the academic prowess of renowned economist and first professor of Capital Market, Prof. Uche Uwaleke for simultaneously writing two books about the Capital Market.
Speaking at the public presentation of the two books/Colloquium in Abuja on Wednesday, the minister described Uwaleke as an academician of repute, who “has proven his commitment and passion to the socio-economic development of the country through his incisive, factual and informative analysis of the performance of the Nigerian economy.
According to Mrs Ahmed who was represented by her Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, the Nasarawa State University lecturer “goes about his analysis like the teacher that he truly is, making his points as simply as possible,”
Speaking on the Books, titled, “10 Ps of The Nigerian Capital Market” and “Perspective of the Nigerian Capital Market”, the minister said history has shown that books is one of the gateways to sustainable learning and scholarship which has helped in economic development.
She said the colloquium will open up the space for economic discourse which the country needs now to face the challenges of development.
She said one of the author’s books, “The 10Ps of the Nigerian Capital Market” is timely and important, covering a wide area and dealing with various issues of economy, finance and development.
“As we grapple with our economic challenges, effort like this by prof. Uwaleke is like a soothing balm. Government and governance is not only those who work in government ministries and agencies, it involves everyone who is a patriot, because at the end of the day, the country first.
The Book launch was combined with a Colloquium which had stakeholders discuss the Prospects and Challenges of the Capital Markets.
At the launch which took place in Abuja, Prof. Uwaleke said the essence of the Colloquium was to bring the issues of Capital Market to ensure that the capital market is projected.
According to him, “The government has supported the capital market in many ways. At first, the Capital Markets wasn’t mentioned in ERGP but in the new national development plan, the capital markets was recognized and in the process of drafting NDP, the capital markets was recognized.
“In the first book titled, the 10Ps of Capital Markets, I recommended the need to improve the Supply side in the for securities market and also for government to improve infrastructure financing.
“We understand the size of the NDP will be borne by the private sector, as such regulation must be improved and the apex regulator which is SEC must be funded because the regulator relies for funds from the market
” In Nigeria today, The bulk of tax comes from listed companies. About Sixty per cent of tax from FIRS is from listed companies. So once more companies are listed, it means more money for the sector, as such the Capital Markets is a critical sector to the growth of the country,” he explained.
Speaking as a panelist, Tunde Amolegbe – President, Chartered Institute of Stock Brokers admitted that in terms of Knowledge gap, the Capital market is not deep as “It is only trading 4million to 5million dollars in Nigeria compared to South Africa which is trading about N500 million dollars,”
Speaking further, he said lack of education is one of the main deterrent to wealth creation and the average Nigerian is not aware of what the stock market is all. about.
He however noted that “With technology, things are changing and alot more can be done in awareness creation and reaching the populace to deepen participation in the market,”
He continued by saying “Stockbrokers must bring innovation and diverse ideas for the market and we will see better growth. It is important to realize time has changed and capital markets have taken significant changes in terms of regulation,”
Also speaking, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, CEO, Cowry Assets Ltd believes that with a better Regulatory environment, more Nigerians will surely key into the Market, while Prof. Nazifi Darma of Economics department at the University of Abuja pointed out that there is a need to bring the informal sector into the market.
He said “Total informal sector according to World Bank in 2016 stands at 60 per cent in Nigeria, so alot needs to be done to bring them in”.
“The economy is vibrant but there should be measures to make it more effective and attractive using the capital market,” he added.
