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Promoting market development, trade with bilateral deals

By EDITOR
10 February 2015   |   11:00 pm
THE President of the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has affirmed that market operators and the country as a whole will benefit in several ways from a right partnership with developed markets, as no knowledge and experience has ever happened in isolation.   Aig-Imoukhuede, who made the observation during a strategic…

THE President of the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has affirmed that market operators and the country as a whole will benefit in several ways from a right partnership with developed markets, as no knowledge and experience has ever happened in isolation.  

Aig-Imoukhuede, who made the observation during a strategic meeting with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, as part of efforts to strengthen economic cooperation, promote mutual development and trade between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, said the meeting was a follow up to an earlier agreement signed between the NSE and London Stock Exchange (LSE) last year on how to mutually support both markets.

  Bur addressing select journalists at the end of the closed-door meeting with Pocock, Aig-Imoukhuede pointed out that the meeting was important because the initiative was launched at a time when global factors and forces had influenced the movement of capital flows, while since the agreement was entered into, there have been several meetings on how to drive the initiative.

  According to him, for our economy to grow, we have to open it up through partnership from a mutual flow stand point and  “traditionally, we have a strong affinity in terms of our capital market with the UK markets. I think this is an opportunity for us to leverage it properly. It is strange that if you look at our Nigerian market today, we don’t actually have a UK investment bank or an investment house operating as a branch in this country and we actually have Nigerians over there licenced by their market authorities.

  “One of the lowest hanging fruit in terms of opening up our economy is either through trade or through capital flows. Trade in terms of physical flow of goods and services or capital flows and it is a low hanging fruit for us to reap from. The key thing is that just like with physical trade where you have ports and so on, in terms of capital, you have exchanges, markets, issuers, investors and that is what we have to work on.

  “The more global a city becomes, the greater the rate of development and I think it is for a very simple reason. So, we need to build that up to get the capacity that is required to improve. I look at capacity in three areas- the skills, financial and the most important, ‘who you know and who you are connected with’. Definitely, we would benefit from this relationship with the UK.

  “We have determined the roles and responsibilities and how they would be apportioned and shared. This month, the lawyers on both sides, that is, the UK Law Society and the Capital Market Solicitors Association of Nigeria would be meeting in the UK.

 “In March or April, we intend to have a one-day workshop where all the stakeholders from the Nigerian side meet our counterparts in the UK for one day and formerly sign up the initiative. As you know already anyway, this is a catalyst and it is not to say we want to put everything within the boundary of this taskforce and already some of those things are already taking place as you know.”

  He pointed out that in the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between LSE and the NSE towards expanding dual listing, the meeting with the High Commissioner signposts the importance of the initiative to all stakeholders.

  However, Pocock stressed that the British government has huge interest in the stability, security, development and prosperity of Nigeria, noting that the agents of the commercial interest in Nigeria are the British companies and British investors.

  “So, what we are interested in doing as a government is to encourage our companies to look at Nigeria and helping them with access to the market. In addition to this initiative on capital market which is about increasing mutual access to resources and financial instruments, we are looking also at a broader Nigerian economy. We have particular interest in well-established industries here like in the oil and gas and many other smaller companies in Nigeria.

  “We have legacy companies here in Nigeria such as PZ Cussons, Guinness Nigeria, Glaxosmithkline and others. What is new is that we are expanding the nature of our involvement and interest in the Nigerian economy, particularly in value-adding service areas. The financial service sector speaks for itself. Lagos is actually the capital and there is increasing financial services activities,” he said.

  Disclosing that the UK investors are considering investments in the Nigerian education sector, he added: “Nigerians have interest in British educational standards and syllabuses and what has been the case has been either distance learning or Nigerian students going to the UK. But we like a reverse flow.

  “We like to bring British educational products and institutions to Nigeria. I mean to bring the product to the marketplace. Health is another area that we are interested in and again I would say that given the economic and physical restructuring that would have to happen in the life of the new government, the diversification of the Nigerian economy which has been long discussed but frequently delayed, we think is an area that British companies can help in.”

  Also, Pocock noted that while there is a huge interest in Nigeria, the UK government wants to make sure the risk perception at the moment don’t overshadow the opportunities in the country.

  “So, as a government, part of our role is to find a balance between risk and opportunity in Nigeria and this initiative is a welcome channel for such,” he added.

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