Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for active involvement of capital market stakeholders in bridging Nigeria’s $3 trillion infrastructure.
Shettima stated this at the opening ceremony of the third West Africa Capital Market Conference with the theme: ‘Infrastructural Deficit and Sustainable Financing in an Integrated West African Capital Market’ held on Wednesday in Lagos.
Shettima, who was represented by Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs in the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Tope Fasua, said the centrality of capital market to Nigeria’s development trajectory especially to the evolution of corporate sector, industries and most importantly infrastructural development cannot be over emphasised.
He added that it is a time of intense competition among nations and resources, and with advancement in technology, nations are able to reach to nations with their products just as businesses have their fingers in billions of pockets the world over.
He implored West Africa regulators and operators to think hard to find liquidity, growth and sustainability in their markets, saying if stock exchanges in developed countries still thrive like New York, London, Amsterdam, Bombay and Egypt there is no reason why West African exchanges should not thrive.
The Director-General Securities and Exchange Commission and chairman of West Africa Securities Regulators Association, Mr. Lamido Yuguda stated that, the conference (WACMaC) was conceived as a platform to address crucial issues related to the orderly growth and development of regional and continental capital markets and jointly hosted by WASRA, the Economic Community of West African States, the West Africa Capital Market Integration Council, and the West African Monetary Institute.
Yuguda said, “WACMIC and WASRA bring together the securities exchanges, central securities depositories and commissions of the sub-region, comprising Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine, with Morocco as an observer member. Our mission, as outlined in the ECOWAS Commission Treaty, is to facilitate the issuance and trading of financial securities across the region.”
