Minister calls for more stakeholders’ engagement on capital market

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has called for more stakeholder engagement, literacy and awareness on the importance of the capital market.

Adeosun made the call when stakeholders in the market, led by the Chairman, Capital Market Master Plan Council (CAMMIC), visited her on Monday in Abuja.

According to her, a lot of people do not really understand the capital market and what it can do for the development of the country.

“There is a lot to be done on your part around literacy and awareness and stakeholders engagement at every level, especially at the political level.

“I am not sure every minister truly understands what the capital market means for his portfolio,’’ she said.

Adeosun explained that the capital market had the potential to solve most of the nation’s financial problems and promised that the government would leverage on the opportunity and harness the potential.

She said that the country needed funds to finance various sectors of the economy and the capital market was the strength needed to support the government.

On the pension funds, Adeosun said that the fund needed to earn a return and the return would be largely driven through the capital market.

She said that in order to achieve this, instruments needed to be created and certain sectors de-risked.

The minister said that there was a need for the capital market to compete with the money market but in doing that operators needed to increase its competitiveness.

Earlier, the Chairman of CAMMIC, Mr Olutola Mobolurin, said the visit was to notify the minister on efforts of the council and seek necessary support that would drive the Capital Market Master Plan (2015-2025).

Mobolurin also sought the assistance of the government toward ensuring that CAMMIC was mainstreamed into the national plan.

He explained that the capital market was usually neglected and had not found the right attention in the government.

The chairman of the council urged government to support the market to enable it to contribute its quota to national economic development.