Market participants have pushed for the quick enactment of legislative changes that would encourage new listings to increase market liquidity.
Stakeholders urged the Senate Committee on Capital Market to actively support legislative changes that would increase listing on the capital market during the committee’s courtesy visit to the Nigerian capital market with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) management in Lagos.
Dr. Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of NGX Group, emphasized that the committee should make sure that the Private Companies Conversion and Listings Bill (PCCLB) is reviewed again since it has the potential to increase the number of listings in the market.
The measure aims to make it mandatory for all private enterprises that meet certain benchmarks across several sectors to convert from private to public and be listed.
Kwairanga claims that more listings will draw in investment as well as enhance governance, transparency, and tax responsibility, all of which will raise government revenue.
Additionally, he advocated for laws that would encourage pension money to be allocated to the stock market on a larger scale.
“We can stimulate liquidity, facilitate infrastructure development, and enhance price discovery in the market by introducing regulations that would promote increased allocation to the equities market within the pension sector,” he stated.
Temi Popoola, the chief executive officer of NGX Group Plc, asked the committee to take into account measures that would boost transactions in US dollars on the Nigerian capital market.
He continued by saying that these actions will create new opportunities for Nigerian and international businesses with dollar revenues to actively engage in the market, increasing the size and allure of the country’s capital market.
Lamido Yuguda, the SEC’s director general, assured stakeholders that the agency would keep fortifying its regulatory framework to expand and boost market competition.
Osita Izunaso, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, gave investors confidence that legislators will push for changes in the law to encourage investment in the market.
