The delay by President Muhammadu Buhari in appointing members of Federal Cabinet has been impacting negatively on the Nigerian equities market and has led to a dip of N823 billion in the value of the market between when he took over and last Friday.
Investors had reacted positively to the victory of Buhari in March as market rallied for 10 straight days, longest streak of gains since December 2012.
The market added N1.8 trillion in the first four days of that rally. The market, which dipped from N11.478 trillion at the beginning of the year to N10.718 trillion in February due to pre elections apprehensions, surged above N11 trillion after the presidential election.
And on the eve of the inauguration of Buhari’s administration, the market stood at N11.659 trillion.
However, the delay in the appointment of ministers after over 40 days in office, is discouraging equity investors, who are waiting to know the policy direction of the Buhari’s government before taking investment decisions.
Consequently, the stock market has dipped from N11.659 trillion, on the eve of inauguration to N10.836 trillion last Friday, translating into about seven per cent decline.
