The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has called on local and foreign investors not to panic over the developments in the Nigerian capital market.
Emefiele, who made the declaration during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos on Thursday, said that the market was buoyant, stressing that local and foreign investors should retain their confidence in Nigeria because the economy was resilient.
“There is no need for anybody to panic because the Nigerian economy in our very view remains resilient,” said Emefiele, while attributing the current developments in the market to a drop in commodity prices such as crude oil and gold, hostilities in Ukraine and quantitative tampering easing.
The CBN governor said the fiscal authorities had introduced a lot of measures to tackle the unfolding vulnerability such as developing the nation’s non-oil revenue.
Emefiele said that the country’s non-oil revenue contribution stood at N75 billion in 2014, noting that, it was expected to increase to N150 billion in 2015.
“The Federal Government is doing much to diversify the nation’s economy and in due time, we will begin to reap the benefits of these efforts,” he said, even as he said that investors should not panic about the forthcoming elections because “it will come and go.”
He said that Nigeria had survived many elections in the past, noting that 2015 would not be an exception. “There is no need to panic because of the election; the election will come and go and Nigeria will remain the same and economic activities will continue,” he stated.
Emefiele said that disagreements would occur one way or the other before the elections but would be settled at the end, stressing that “I’m confident of Nigeria that we are one nation, irrespective of the disagreements, we are one nation and we all must have faith in Nigeria.”
Rasheed Yussuf, the doyen of the stockbrokers, who commended the governor for the visit and encouragement, called for more collaboration between the CBN and the Exchange.
Yussuf said that operators believed in the strength and ability of Nigerians to turn things around through the development of local investors.
Yussuf, who is the Managing Director, Trust Yield Investment Ltd, said that the brokers were ready to cooperate and work with the apex bank in developing local talents.
“We are the largest in both size and resources and we are ready to work closely with the CBN governor to turn things around,” he said, even as he also called for cooperation of the monetary authorities in policy making, in the interest of the market and the economy in general.
“We want closer cooperation between the NSE and the CBN because some of the measures taken by the monetary policy makers conflict with the market interest,” and called for regular meetings between the apex bank and the operators, in the interest of market growth and development.
Also speaking, the NSE Council President, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, said that there was a great future for Nigeria and the market.
Aig-Imoukhuede said that the apex bank governor would work with the operators and the Exchange to strengthen the nation’s capital market AND commended the governor and his team for the visit, noting that, Emefiele was an experienced banker, with a sound track record.
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