The Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN) Tuesday disclosed its four-point agenda for the country’s capital market, some of which include policy reforms and liberalisation of oil and gas sector.
Some of the other agenda include power sector reforms and private sector-led infrastructure development, which will be discussed at its business lunch interaction scheduled for tomorrow.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos to announce the event, Chuka Eseka, president, AIHN, said across various aspects of the economy, the government must be committed to promoting market-based ideologies as indispensable tools to liberate the economy from the shackles of inefficiency.
Eseka noted that most industrialised and leading economies and capital markets around the world operate on sound market principles, adding that Nigeria must not be different if the capital market would help raise the necessary finance needed for growth and development.
On liberalisation of the oil and gas sector, he said, “A low hanging fruit to enhancing capital market growth is liberalising upstream and downstream operations of the oil and gas sector. When the economics is right, the capital market can easily provide the funding needed to grow the sector. In addition, the capital market can serve as the avenue to attract both local and foreign capital essential for driving private sector-led growth and development.”
The power sector is in dire need of funding that the sector cannot attract in its current state, he said, stressing that critical market reforms, most especially in the areas of tariffs, are needed to re-focus the sector and drive it to reach its full potentials.
“For instance, if the entire value chain including transmission is decentralised and opened up to the market, GENCOs and DISCOs can get listed to raise capital by way of IPO. This sector is crucial in our capital market agenda setting in the next four years,” he said.
Through PPP arrangements, the private sector can help expand the country’s infrastructure stock levels, which has been estimated to require up to $50 billion annually over the next 60 years, he assured. “This is a capex level that the government’s revenue and borrowing capacities cannot shoulder. Therefore, if infrastructure gap must be bridged, the capital market must be central to the strategies deployed.”
Also speaking at the occasion, Babatunde Obaniyi, director, publicity and marketing, AIHN, said the business lunch interaction would emphasise on the importance of the capital markets to the development of the Nigerian economy in continuation of the ongoing national narrative on the growth/prospects of the Nigerian economy.
The session will also deliberate on what needs to be done over the next four years to ensure that the capital markets fulfil its pivotal role in driving Nigeria’s economic growth, Obaniyi said.
