The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has assured of the readiness of Nigeria’s capital market to aid in infrastructure development following the assumption of office of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This assurance was given by Lamido Yuguda, Director General, SEC during an interview Thursday.
Yuguda expressed the belief that the Nigerian Capital Market, being an organised and specialised financial market that drives capital mobilisation through domestic savings and foreign capital inflows, is well positioned for the realisation of the infrastructure objectives of the nation.
According to him, the benefits of adequate infrastructure in any economy cannot be over emphasised as they help to speed up development and create wealth.
He said, “If we are able to get well thought out infrastructure in this country, it will do a lot of things. It will raise the level of economic activities in the country as a whole and these activities will need people to be employed so they can carry out those activities.
“That means the youths and our people will get more employment and as you get more employment, people get more disposable income and need to find outlets to spend that income. That means people can set up small
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Industries and be able to live decent lives. Also, people will be buying the basic essentials of life and the people who are in the business of producing these or selling them will be in business . So you find out that there is a chain effect”.
Yuguda recalled that in the past, most famous industries were sited close to rail lines to aid the transportation of heavy machinery and raw materials as well as finished products to consumers.
“You can have several carriages in the train carrying various products. Today we do not have the rail lines and we need to revive these infrastructure,” he said.
The SEC DG expressed the hope that the nation’s economy will bounce back and thrive with the aid of the capital market.
“I have a lot of hope in our economy. Right now if you do the GDP ranking, Nigeria is about number 30, but I am very confident that if we get our infrastructure right, our ranking will improve tremendously.
He stated that Nigeria has the population and the market Right now, which means that investment in infrastructure can pay back itself in Nigeria faster than other parts of Africa because the nation has more people that can use the infrastructure.
He therefore urged government at all levels to look towards the capital market for financing of such investments which he said would aid the much needed economic development.
He assured that once the infrastructure is right, the number of use willl grow which in turn boost economic activities.
Yuguda said this will all be aided by the capital market as it is an unbiased price determination machinery for the economy.
“Once we have the right infrastructure, people will travel by roads. We did in the past and I think once we have the right structures in place we can begin to enjoy good roads again,” he added.
The SEC DG assured that the Commission is committed to protecting investors and creating an enabling in the market, emphasising the SEC’s unwavering resolve to build a robust capital market that is instrumental to driving economic progress in the country.
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