More calls have gone to the relevant authorities to put efforts in place to ensure increased listing of multinationals in the capital market.

Specifically, analysts have said that the National Assembly should enact legislation that would compel multinationals to list their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The move, according to them, would boost activities in the capital market as well as attract more foreign investments into the market.

The analyst also added that, furthermore, such legislation would go a long way to check some activities of some of these multinationals as they would become more accountable and transparent.

A financial analyst, Mr. Abiodun Hakeem, said that some countries in Africa had adopted the system of ensuring that multinationals were listed on their stock exchanges.

In a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday, he said, “There is need to urgently shore up the liquidity of Nigeria’s capital market which will in turn restore the much needed investor confidence. Getting the telecommunication firms as well as oil and gas multinationals to list on the exchange will boost liquidity that will transform the fortunes of the capital market”.

“For instance, in 2002, Kenya enacted Foreign Investor Regulation, which compelled multinationals operating in the country to list on the capital market. The legislation, provided for a minimum of 25 per cent reserve of the issued share capital for local investors while the balance of 75 per cent was left for other categories of investors.”

He noted that the legislation had made it possible for Kenyan citizens to invest in companies like Nation Media, a regional media player; TPS East Africa, a tourism operator and Safaricom, a mobile telecommunication company amongst others.”

He also stated that the Tanzania parliament in February 2010 passed a Communication Bill which made it mandatory for mobile telecommunications companies to be listed on the Dar’ es Salaam Stock Exchange, while the government of Egypt insisted on partial listing as a condition for the award of a mobile licence to Vodafone Egypt, an investment between Telecom Egypt and Vodafone.

The Central Bank Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, had recently called for a more drastic approach to get those companies listed on the NSE.

He said that it was important for government to take a firm stand and institute a policy compelling the multinationals to either participate in the capital market or leave the country.

“The question is, why can’t we have a law that will compel companies like MTN, Globacom and Shell to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange? There is absolutely no reason. They don’t need to own 10 per cent of their companies and they don’t need to be held closely by a narrow range of Nigerians,”he said.

Source: Punch/Udeme Ekwere