Oscar N. Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), has asserted that the British government remains a great ally to Nigeria capital market development.
Onyema made the assertion during his talks with newsmen on the sidelines of the business networking event hosted by the British High Commission and headlined by the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Theresa May.
UK’s capital market with Nigeria
Nigeria and the United Kingdom have a long history of trade and joint efforts, which influences various aspects of both countries’ socio-economic sectors.
Onyema revealed that the NSE has a capital market agreement with the London Stock Exchange, which aims at promoting seamless cross-border access between Lagos and London markets to ultimately develop larger capital markets that enable capital formation for businesses and governments.
This, Onyema said will create deeper liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for investors; as well as enhance capacity, and promote diversity of investment products to meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers.
Onyema further stressed that the capital market is a major barometer of Nigeria’s economy.
As the world is preparing for the fourth industrial revolution, Onyema maintained that the Nigerian capital market must ready itself in order to compete globally.
“The capital market like many sectors is being impacted by technology. The World Bank has just issued bond-I, its first blockchain operated bond. We have seen the growth of crypto currencies amongst innovations. On our part at the Exchange, we have deployed Artificial Intelligence to monitor activities in our market. This has even become imperative as we look set to demutualise and introduce more sophisticated products such as derivatives.” Onyema was quoted.
Nairametrics had earlier reported the hard words from May before she visited the country.
In a speech given in South Africa, she highlighted the high level of poverty in Africa and Nigeria specifically.
May said, “Most of the world’s poorest people are Africans. And increasing wealth has brought rising inequality, both between and within nations. For example, much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy. Yet 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day – making it home to more very poor people than any other nation in the world.”
