Osinbajo charges capital market regulators on long-term funding

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday urged stakeholders in the financial sector to find leeway to the challenge of funding that is affecting investment in the country.

Osinbajo, who spoke at the Second Capital Market Stakeholders’ Forum in Abuja yesterday organised by the joint Senate and House of Representatives committees on Capital Market and Institutions, Securities & Exchange Commission and other stakeholders, said there was need to identify creative ways that would give small and medium businesses access to capital.

The Vice President, represented by the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, noted that the economic policies set out by the current administration, particularly the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), could remain elusive if the capital market do not play significant role in addressing financial challenges.

He, therefore, expressed the urgent need for the nation to sustain its growth trajectory to ensure that the growth translates to development and impacts on the lives of the people.

The Vice President, who urged the operators to provide necessary support that would enable businesses take advantage of the various opportunities created by government to access capital, both long and short, said the players must generate ideas that could become a reliable source of large funds that could be readily accessed by local and international institutions seeking to do business with Nigeria.

He stated that financial markets are known to be engines of growth because of the strategic role they play in the flow of funding.

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, represented by the Senate Minority Whip, Philip Aduda, stated that the Senate would work hard to make necessary laws to open links that would promote Nigeria’s economy.

Also, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who stated that the House was committed to the growth and development of the capital market as a strategic component of Nigeria’s economy, said: “I wish to reiterate the need for collaboration between the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and relevant committees of the National Assembly in our resolve to ensure meaningful national growth and development,” Dogara said.

Meanwhile, in her keynote address, Acting Director-General, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduk, observed that while economic growth is on increase in the production of goods and services usually measured in GDP, economic development is larger as it includes improvement in the quality of life and living standards of citizens.

She said that an estimated $350 billion is needed to fix the large infrastructure gap across the states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).