Some stakeholders on Tuesday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to embark on enlightenment campaigns to increase domestic investors’ participation in the capital market.
The stakeholders made the appeal in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
They said that the market regulators would need to avoid reliance on foreign investors.
Mr Adebayo Adeleke, the General Secretary, Independent Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (ISAN), said that SEC and NSE should reach out to millions of Nigerians on the rudiments of the capital market.
He said that the market regulators should introduce a master plan aimed at increasing domestic investors’ participation in the market instead of embarking on international road shows.
“The regulators need a road map that will sell the market to millions of Nigerians through mass education in local languages’’, he said.
Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, member, Nigeria Shareholders’ Solidarity Association, said that capital market regulators should focus on ways to encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora to invest in the market.
Olatokunbo told NAN that emphasis should not be placed only on foreign investors.
He called on the Federal Government to pursue friendly economic policies to boost investor confidence and economic stability.
Olatokunbo said that the government should intensify efforts to address the nation’s security challenges.
He also appealed to all Nigerians to be committed to free, fair and credible elections in 2015 to encourage investors.
He urged that politicians should abide to electioneering rules and avoid creating tension.
Mr Boniface Okezie, President, Progressive Shareholders’ Association, said that the government should revisit the sale of the nationalised banks.
Okezie said that the government should compensate aggrieved domestic investors who lost investments in the nationalised banks.
NAN reports that statistics released by the exchange showed that domestic investors’ participation decreased from 56.64 per cent in September to 12.46 per cent in October.(NAN)