• Says Retail Players Invested N5bn In Maiden FGN Sukuk

Nigeria’s Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), on Friday announced the extension of forbearance for those who engaged in multiple subscriptions to share issues by public companies in the past until September.
The forbearance relates to investors who subscribed to public offers, especially during the era when the Federal Government sold its stake in state-owned entities and got them listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). This took place under the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) led by Ambassador Hamza Zayyad and continued under the Bureau of Public Enterprices (BPE).
Many of such subscribers, particularly public officials at the time were later found to have variously used their names, children and cronies to ensure they acquired much more than was allowed per person, especially as the shares were allotted on geo-political basis to ensure fair spread across the country. But the era of Bank Verification Numbering (BVN) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) means that those involved in such multiple subscriptions can no longer joggle their names at wish.
The forbearance is therefore to enable them consolidate such multiple shareholder’s identities with the registrars and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) into one that bears their official names.
Addressing newsmen on the outcome of the Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting held on Thursday in Lagos, acting Director-General of the SEC), Ms. Mary Uduk said the extension was to enable more investors take advantage of the window.
According to her, the body of capital market registrars “have acknowledged that investors have started coming forward, but there are challenges in the process.
“The CMC deliberated and recommended the appropriate Technical Committee to seek input and come up with recommendations to address the challenges,” she stressed, urging “all affected investors to come forward and take advantage of the window before the new deadline” expires.
Also, in what may be indication of some growth in Nigeria’s retail investments horizon, participants at the meeting learnt that retail players in the domestic capital market invested a princely N5bn in the Sukuk (ethical) bond issued by the Federal Government last year.
The amount represents 5% of the N100bn bond with a seven-year tenor, for fixing 25 key economic road projects across the six geo-political zones, with N16.67bn earmarked for road projects in each geo-political zone.
Briefing newsmen Friday on the outcome of the maiden Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting for the year, held previous day, Acting Director-General of the SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk, noted the Technical Committee on Non-Interest capital market as reporting the sovereign sukuk issued in 2017 attracted about 1,600 retail investors.
Following from that success, she assured that “the next level of engagements is to work with supra-national entities (such as IFC, AfDB), state governments, institutions (such as Federal Mortgage Bank, NMRC) to include sukuk options in their capital investment plans.”
The commission also used the occasion to reiterate its earlier stance, as part of its investor protection mandate, that none of those promoting cryptocurrencies has been recognized or authorized by it or other regulatory agencies in Nigeria to mobilze deposit from the public or provide any investment or other financial service within or outside Nigeria.
The Acting DG therefore urged “the public to exercise extreme caution with regards to crypto currencies as a vehicle of investments.”