The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on Tuesday in Abuja, emphasized the need to have a vibrant Commodities Exchange in the country, which she said would ensure Nigeria realizes its full potentials while boosting foreign exchange earnings.
Declaring open a training session for senior managers and management staff of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), Acting Director General of the SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk, said the nation needs to harness the full potentials in the commodities market.
She recalled that the Capital Market Master Plan already contains “an analysis of where we are and where we want to be as the leading capital market in Africa and one of the areas is the Commodities market which is very important, but one of the least developed.
“The Nigerian economy is mainly agrarian driven, all states of the federation have exportable quantities of commodities and we have some of the highest grades in the world.
“Government wants to diversify to agriculture and so we need to be able to export some of these commodities. If the farmers do very well, the earnings of the country will be boosted,” she stressed.
Uduk, who was represented by Head of Department, Registration, Exchanges and Market Infrastructure of the SEC, Emomotimi Agama, disclosed that these commodities can be exported, while on the other hand industries can be set up that will employ a large number of our teeming population.
According to her, “if we can develop this very well, our country will be better for it. What we need now are better pricing, transparency, and better quality and these are what we set to achieve with the farmers and that is why the Commodities Exchange is important.
“The crude form they are trading now does not provide the farmers the benefit of price discovery, transparency among others. The only way to achieve these is to have an exchange hence the need arose to set up the Technical Committee to look holistically at all the issues.”
On the rationale for the training, Uduk noted that expectedly with the successful introduction of an initiative, there would be disagreements and disputes, hence the need prepare officials of the IST, which is empowered by Investments and Securities Act, ISA 2007 to adjudicate on capital market issues.
“By virtue of the ISA 2007, the Investments and Securities Tribunal, IST is the adjudicator in event of such issues in the capital market. It is then important the IST which has this responsibility is properly aware of these issues and the types of disputes that will arise”.
The training, he stressed, “is to create a foundation that we can build upon as we go along.
“Our resolve is to always involve the IST in capacity building so that when there are disputes, they could be quickly resolved thereby increasing investors’ confidence and deepening the market,” the Acting DG added.

Photo Caption: Acting, Head, Registration Exchanges and Market Infrastructure, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Emomotimi Agama (middle), in a handshake with Senior Manager, Litigation and Process Registry Department, Investments and Securities Tribunal, Mrs. Maria Anodere, while Principal Manager, Commodities Exchange Division SEC, Mrs. Caroline Dokpesi, looks on, during the training for senior management staff of the IST on the Implementation of the Commodity Ecosystem in Abuja, Tuesday.