NECA, SEC partner to promote capital market

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), are synergising towards promoting and encouraging businesses to leverage the capital market for funds they need to further strengthen and expand their operations.

NECA is the umbrella body for business organisations/employers of labour, with members cutting across all critical sectors of the Nigerian economy, while SEC is a government agency charged with the regulation of operations within the capital market space.

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There has been some sluggish approach to the capital market by businesses, especially in terms of initial public offer (IPO). But the SEC and NECA believe this lull can be reversed by working together to encourage businesses in the formal sector, many of which are NECA members.

In 2021, both organisations inaugurated NECA/SEC Securities Issuers Forum (SIF), a platform they plan to formally launch this year.

Speaking while receiving Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of SEC, at NECA House, Ikeja, on Wednesday, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, the director-general of NECA, said SIF could be positioned as a body to drive and contribute to the growth of the market as being the case in other climes i.e. the United States.

The NECA DG stressed the imperative of strong collaboration between the government and the private sector in building a virile economy, adding that in doing this, an agency like SEC was critical.

“Nigeria can’t achieve its full potential without a strong collaboration between the government, its agencies, and the private sector. Truth is that for every ten jobs created in any economy, the private sector is responsible for nine,” said Oyerinde.

On his part, Yuguda said the NECA/SEC SIF was a platform to interface with the private sector players.

“We’re running a platform where the regulator meets with the private sector issuers of securities in the Nigerian capital market for cross fertilisation of ideas on how best to support securities issuers and what their concerns have been and how the commission can respond to those concerns through policy formulation and regulatory forbearances.

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“We want to see a lot more issuance of securities by businesses. The capital market is there for them to raise money by issuing securities. We have seen a kind of lull in securities issuance, especially in the primary market. We want businesses to let us know why they’re not really coming to the market as before. We want to support them through better policies and better regulations,” the DG said.

He added that the idea of engaging NECA could serve as the fulcrum through which the SEC and the organised private sector can come together.