In a bid to deepen the capital market and have vibrant commodities exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to hold a roundtable on the commodities Trading Ecosystem.
This was made known by the acting Director-General of the commission, Mary Uduk, who said SEC was seeking the buy-in of policymakers and agencies of government as well as the perspectives of stakeholders towards encouraging investments and more participation in the commodities market.
What you should know: The roundtable is scheduled to hold on October 3, 2019, in Lagos with the theme is: ‘Building a strong Commodities Trading Ecosystem for Inclusive Economic Development’.
The roundtable is expected to attract industry experts, policymakers and leaders of thought to brainstorm in a bid to further develop the commodities market in Nigeria.
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Uduk’s words: “The Capital Market Master Plan did an analysis of where we are and where we want to be as the leading capital market in Africa, and one of the areas is the commodities market which is very important, but one of the least developed. The Nigerian economy is mainly agrarian driven; all states of the federation have exportable quantities of commodities and we have some of the highest grades in the world.
“The government wants to diversify to agriculture, and so we need to be able to export some of these commodities. If the farmers do very well, the earnings of the country will be boosted.”
The topics to be discussed at the roundtable include enabling the environment for functional commodities trading system, developing a thriving commodities market, success stories from Africa and emerging economies and private sector involvement, amongst others.
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Uduk stated that the SEC aims to have an efficient commodities exchange because the commodities sector of the capital market is dormant which is why the Commission is leading other capital market stakeholders on capacity building and public enlightenment campaigns.
