…As Adeosun opens London trading

Stories by Chinenye Anuforo

Kemi Adeosun, the minister of Finance, last Friday opened the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) to celebrate the business ties between Nigeria and UK, while promoting the 3rd ‘London and Lagos Capital Markets in Partnership’ conference.
The minister, who was joined by Greg Hands, a member of the UK parliament and the UK minister of state for international trade, said Nigeria is good for business.
Adeosun, who explained how Nigeria intends to fund its budget deficit, said  Nigeria’s low-interest lending rate remains on course. She said the country has a headroom for borrowing, since it has a low debt-to-GDP ratio.
Speaking on Nigeria, Hands said: “I know from my own time in Nigeria that the UK and Nigeria have long enjoyed a close and prosperous business relationship.
“The UK is one of Nigeria’s largest investors and the government is committed to boosting trade between our two countries.
“We are actively helping British companies export to Nigeria and Nigerian businesses to locate and expand in the UK. I welcome this initiative as a further step to deepen the commercial links between our nations.”
Amina Mohammed, minister of Environment, gave a keynote address discussing the Nigerian government’s green agenda.
The event, hosted in collaboration with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), was attended by senior Nigerian policymakers, including Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, director-general, Nigerian Pension Commission; Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); and Roger Brown, CFO of Seplat Petroleum.
“Our collaboration with London Stock Exchange is deliberate and strategic,” Onyema said.
“It is geared at encouraging seamless cross-border access between our capital markets to ultimately drive deeper capital markets that enable capital formation for businesses and governments.”
He added that the deal creates “larger liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for our investors; and enhance capacity and promote diversity of investment products to meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers”.
In November 2014, London Stock Exchange Group and NSE signed a capital markets agreement aimed at supporting African companies seeking dual listings in London and Lagos.
At 112, more African companies are listed in London than any other international exchange, and the companies have a combined market capitalisation in excess of $200 billion — the largest concentration of African quoted companies outside of Johannesburg.
Eight of those companies have their primary areas of business in Nigeria

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SEC takes financial literacy campaign to schools

In line with the determination of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to close the financial literacy gap while deepening awareness about the capital market, the Commission is set to carry its awareness campaign across the country.
This is in alignment with the forthcoming World Savings Day celebration by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and the entire financial sector.
SEC is doing this through a Technical Committee on the Financial Literacy Week (TCFLW), comprising representatives of regulatory bodies, capital market operators and the media.
The Chairperson of the TCFLW, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sanni, said plans are being concluded to hold special programmes across the geo-political zones of the country, to coincide with the world savings day.
She said multiple fora would be held in Kano (Kano State) to represent the Northern zone, Port Harcourt (Rivers State) to represent the Southern zone and Abeokuta (Ogun State) for Western Nigeria.
“The literacy drive and awareness campaign will be extended to other locations as we move on. However, we are beginning with these three locations and this would commence from  October 31 to the November 4 ,” she said.
Specifically, the event will hold in Kano on October 31, Port Harcourt on November 2, and Abeokuta on November 4.
Sanni, who said the literacy drive and awareness campaign is in line with the Capital Market 10-Year Master- Plan,  noted that it is very necessary, considering the generally low level of financial literacy and capital market awareness across the country.
According to her, in Nigeria, financial illiteracy, among other factors, could be said to have contributed to the crash of the Capital Market in 2007/2008.
“The public is largely unfamiliar with the workings and benefits of  the capital market. The loss of investor confidence in the market due to crisis that hit the banking industry and capital market some years back, partly resulted from lack of financial knowledge,” Sanni said.
This is why the Master Plan mapped strategies to raise literacy level and awareness about the market. What the Committee is doing is to begin to implement some of those strategies,” Sanni said.
The chairperson disclosed that apart from presentations to be made by market operators and other stakeholders at the various events, quiz competitions, and debates would be organised for secondary schools and universities at the chosen venues.
“We have invited students from secondary schools and universities to be part of the programme because we believe in catching them young and once they become more aware about the workings of the market, they can, in turn spread the message and educate others as well,” she said.
She added that our host governors and other top government functionaries from the selected host states, traditional rulers and eminent persons, regulators and market operators are expected to be in attendance at the different locations.