Shareholders have called on the Federal Government and regulators to ensure that there is sustainable growth in the capital market.

According to the shareholders, this is essential if the market is to record improved activities in the next few weeks.

The shareholders said this against the backdrop of losses recorded in the equities market  in the last two weeks.

The Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said that regulators should not be satisfied with the gains recorded in the market in the early part of the year.

He said, “We should not be carried away by the euphoria that the market recorded in the early part of the year, because such may not last long. the  truth is that we have seen even better gains in the market, and they came crashing in a short period.

“Ofcourse, a close look at the market in the last two or more weeks would reveal that there has been consecutive losses in the market and the reason for this may not be far-fetched. So, I think that the regulators have to make concerted efforts to ensure that the gains in the market are sustainable.”

Okezie said that the regulators had  not done enough in the area of attracting retail investments into the bourse, adding that foreign investors could not drive the Nigerian equities market, as their investments were  not sustained.

He said, “I think the important thing that the regulators should focus on should be to rebuild the confidence of local investors who exited the market due to some policies or decisions taken by the market regulators a few years back.

“The retail investors have to be encouraged to return to the market, and one step towards achieving this is to ensure that investors who were made to lose their investments without good reason should be duly compensated for that.

Another shareholder, Mr. Olufemi Timothy, called on the regulators including the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission to closely monitor the activities of companies listed on the NSE, to ensure that investments were fully protected.

The Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, announced plans to roll out additional Exchange Traded Funds before the end of the year.

This, the management of the Exchange said, was to deepen the Nigerian market, as well as to ensure that the $1tn market capitalisation goal by 2016 was achieved.

He said that the opportunities for further growth in the market remained endless, adding that the Exchange was putting things in place to ensure that the market took advantage of such opportunities.

Source: Punch (By Udeme Ekwere)