By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday said mobile-phone operators in Nigeria may soon list their shares, according to a Bloomberg reported quoting Onyema as saying on phone from Seoul, South Korea.

“The stance has moved from them not wanting to list to them looking at how to deal with the issues that would make it unattractive to list, we’re gaining traction.”   The report quoted Onyema.

The Nigerian bourse is seeking to attract more companies to place initial public offerings (IPOs) to better mirror the make-up of the Nigerian economy.

Apart from the telecommunications companies, the NSE has few utilities and oil companies listed on its bourse even though Nigeria is the continent’s top crude producer.

The report affirmed that while none of the mobile-phone operators have come with applications to list their shares, the companies did highlight “structural issues” hindering initial public offerings, Onyema said,

“The NSE is working with Nigerian authorities to address any shortcomings,” Onyema added.

He further affirmed that some don’t need to raise capital, but some do, “If any one of the four carriers wanted to raise capital on the NSE, I don’t see that not being successful,” the Nigerian bourse CEO said.

The report said the said companies had 177.5 million lines between them at the end of August, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).