The President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has said the election of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as a full member of the World Federation of Exchanges, is a great victory for the country.

The Exchange was elected as a full member of the WFE last Tuesday during the 54th General Assembly and Annual Meeting of the WFE in Seoul, South Korea.

Aig-Imoukhuede told journalists in Lagos on Tuesday that it took the country 14 years to achieve the goal, which made it the first West African regional stock exchange to be granted full membership status.

On the benefits of the status, the NSE President said, “Being a member confirms the NSE’s conformity to very high international standards, which of course is a precondition for attracting foreign investment, particularly foreign institutional portfolio managers.

“WFE member Exchanges are tasked with subscribing to the WFE qualifying characteristics, which detail the standards that members should adhere to. In other words, they demand a stronger regulatory environment and by regulation we speak not just about extant regulation but self-regulation.

“Of course, that leads us to the issue of best practices and continued membership of the WFE denotes that we are attempting as an Exchange and as an economy to adhere to best practices in all we do.”

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, full membership of the WFE bestows a higher level of visibility.

“It is also consistent with the fact that Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and by God’s grace our stock exchange will soon become Africa’s largest Exchange,” he said.

He explained that full membership would give the Exchange and the country access to international portfolio flows that filter through WFE members, adding that “it validates the transformation programme that had been pursued by the Exchange since 2011 and the leadership of the Nigerian Government particularly as it relates to creating an enabling environment and a supportive environment for the private sector to thrive.”

Explaining what the process was like, Aig-Imoukhuede said, “This process is a very arduous one and our vote for selection by the full assembly of the WFE came following a series of assessments. We have been campaigning for this for over 14 years and thank God that today, the Exchange having successfully scaled the series of assessments, which culminated in a WFE inspection mission to NSE in September this year, achieved the goal.”

He stressed that the fact that the visit to the country and major part of the process took place “at the heart of the Ebola scare,” signalled the confidence of the international community in Nigeria’s effort to deal with this disease.”

Punch