The Senate Committee on Capital Markets, on Wednesday in Abuja said it is determined to ensure the safety of investments in the Nigerian capital market.
Speaking during a meeting with the management of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the chairman, Senator Ibikunle Amosun said the SEC needs all the support to enable it to attract the much-needed capital inflow into the economy from both domestic and international investors.
The meeting, he said, is to enable the committee to know areas the SEC management is having challenges “and explore ways we can introduce new laws or amend old ones to ensure that Nigeria becomes investors’ destination of choice.
“We are aware some of the enabling laws were made many years ago and probably no longer meet present-day realities. The capital market can help fund a lot of our infrastructure deficit and that is why we are here.”
For any nation to develop, he continued, the capital Market has to be taken seriously, and that where “the regulators are not very active, there would be issues because this market thrives on integrity and confidence, if people don’t have confidence in the market they will not bring their money.”
Speaking earlier, acting Director-General of the commission, Ms. Mary Uduk spoke of plans to expand the SEC’s enforcement roles, especially around issues the Ponzi scheme, sensitising Nigerians on the dangers of investing in them.
“We already do a lot of enlightenment in that regard, but we are going to do more by translating these initiatives into Nigerian languages and Pidgin English and produce short videos for illustration.
“These initiatives are contained in the 10-year capital market master plan and we are going a step further to focus on commodities in a bid to diversify our economy”.
Uduk disclosed that as part of the efforts by the Commission to deepen the market and attract more investors, it recently held an international conference on the commodities market where various recommendations were preferred on ways to have a vibrant commodities trading ecosystem in Nigeria.
According to her, while it is clear that Nigeria is well endowed with agricultural, metals and energy commodities, its potentials in these areas have been mostly unrealized.

Photo caption: Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market Sen. Ibikunle Amosun (left), fielding questions after meeting with the management of the SEC. He is flanked by the Acting Director-General Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Mary Uduk; and Deputy Chairman of the Committee Sen Binos Yaroe; during an oversight visit by the Committee to SEC in Abuja Wednesday.