Shareholders of the Nigerian Stock Exchange have called for dialogue with regulators of the capital market concerning the recurrent fall in equities listed on the Exchange.

The investors had last week stressed that the market regulators needed to meet with stakeholders in order to come up with possible solutions to ameliorate the persistent decline, which the market had recorded in the past months.

“No one person can boast of knowing everything, let alone in the capital market,” the President, Renaissance Shareholders Association, Mr. Olufemi Timothy, said.

“With the current plunge in capitalisation and the declining confidence, which investors now have in the stock market, I think that it is time for both the NSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission to invite local and foreign investors to a round-table meeting to discuss how to save this market from utter collapse.”

According to the shareholders, the regulatory agencies have kept mute for so long.

They also called on the presidency to intervene should the regulators fail to meet with key stakeholders of the sector.

Timothy stressed that the stock market might further crash by next month as a result of the series of public holidays and festivities, which would take place in December.

He said, “It has been the tradition of many shareholders to sell their shares in December in exchange for cash which they use for the Yuletide. So the agencies had better come up with strategic initiatives that will improve the fortunes of the capital market.”

The President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said the regulators inaction overtime had resulted in further crash in stock prices.

He stated that investors were beginning to see the authorities as inept and clueless on what to do to prevent further decline in equities’ prices, adding that shareholders had lost huge sums in the past five months.

“If you consider how the market is faring, you will agree that it needs professionals with in-depth understanding of how to run a successful stock exchange; however, currently, it’s like there is no answer to the challenges facing the stock market.”

“We have had instances of companies delisting from the stock exchange and with what is happening, the ordinary investor will not be interested in investing in the capital market,” he said.

Source: Punch/Okechukwu Nnodim