As the Nigerian stock market recovers, stockbrokers and other operators have been urged to brace up for the challenges ahead to sustain the recovery.
Emeka Madubuike, the chairman, of the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), made the call at the maiden edition of the annual capital market night organised recently by the association in Lagos with the theme “Investment Opportunities in Frontier Market.”
According to him, the market is looking up and operators, need to brace up for the changes coming with the market recovery. He, therefore, called for a lot of hard work, integrity, transparency and collaborative efforts to confront the obvious changes that lie ahead.
“We believe that by working together, all of our members will survive in one form or the other. Our association – the front-line operators of the capital market, has gone through very difficult time in the last five years since 2008, but thankfully we are beginning to see a recovery, which gives us a lot of hope going forward,” he said.
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The operators are very hopeful and looking forward to a market with 40 million investors from the current 5 million investors, he said, noting “we are also expecting a state-of-the-art trading platform that promises great customers and operators experience, $1 trillion market capitalisation and one that is the main driver of economic development.”
The ASHON chairman, who is also the managing director of Compass Investments and Securities Limited, called for the co-operation of all stakeholders in the efforts to attract more patronage to the market.
“To our partners on this project called the capital market, our fellow regulators, investors and other stakeholders, we ask for support, understanding and co-operation as we work collectively to position the market to play it pivotal role in the development of our economy,” he said.
Also at the event, Olusegun Osunkeye, chairman, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria plc, commended the stockbrokers for restoring investors confidence in the market.
“I want to commend you for restoring investor confidence in the market. You will need to maintain a cordial relationship with regulators – the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria. You will also need to train and retrain yourself to meet up with global standards. Despite the challenges in Nigeria, the nation is still a good investment destination. This is an outcome of my interaction with foreign investors. They believe that in Nigeria, there is high risk and high return-on-investment (RoI),” he said.
