By Okechukwu Nnodim

Delegates from Nigeria’s banking, finance and industrial sectors, on Tuesday, met in Lagos under the auspices of the second annual Nigerian Capital Market Workshop to discuss the current status and future prospects of the country’s stock market.

The workshop, which was attended by more than 150 delegates, was hosted by J.P. Morgan, Thomson Reuters, the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A statement by the NSE said delegates focused on how to strengthen and widen Nigeria’s yet relatively nascent equity and debt capital markets, adding that the event was declared opened by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Rt. Hon. Alderman Bear, who is also the UK’s financial ambassador.

According to the statement, Bear highlighted London’s position as the world’s leading centre for international capital and the role it could play in both assisting the development of Nigeria’s financial sector and working jointly to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure development.

The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, who delivered the keynote address, noted that when the economic and market environment steadied, companies from sectors, such as power, upstream oil and gas, telecom and agriculture would choose the equity route to raise capital, thereby increasing the breadth of the NSE.

He said, “The Nigerian capital market is undergoing a metamorphosis. While change is an inevitable effect of growth, we must collaborate to do it proactively and strategically in order to become the gateway to African markets.”

In her welcome address, the Senior Country Officer, Nigeria, at J.P. Morgan, Tosin Adewuyi, spoke about J.P. Morgan’s long standing presence in Nigeria and positive view of the continued development of the Nigerian capital markets.

A panel of discussants, led by the London Stock Exchange’s Head of Primary Markets for Africa, Ibukun Adebayo, spoke on the financing of Nigeria’s utilities and upstream energy companies, which would soon be tapping capital markets once the government’s ambitious reform agenda makes headway.

Adebayo said, “Energy and electricity sector reform will go a long way in ensuring that Nigeria becomes the African economic powerhouse of the future. As the world’s largest centre of international equity capital and as the natural home of energy, infrastructure and resources companies, the London Stock Exchange is best placed among all global exchanges to finance Nigerian companies in these sectors.”

Another panel, which was chaired by the Business Development Manager – Africa for Thomson Reuters, Alex Ménage, discussed steps that could be taken by the Nigerian corporate sector and the market to enhance international investor perceptions.

Ménage said, “This year, for the African Fixed Income community, Thomson Reuters has launched an Auction Solution aimed at providing Central Banks and debt issuers scalable solutions to facilitate and manage their debt auctions, with full transparency and reliability. Our presence in the region goes back to early 20th Century, and I am proud to say we remain committed to our clients and to help accelerate the momentum of a world class capital markets’ establishment.”

Source: Punch