Invest in capital market, SEC tells Nigerians

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called on Nigerians to take advantage of various financial services and invest in the capital market.

The Acting Director-General, Ms Mary Uduk, said this at the Investors Week/financial inclusion sensitization programme yesterday in Gwagwalada, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to the Ag. DG in her welcome address at the event which was held at the Gwagwalada Area Council secretariat, residents should put their money in the right kinds of investments that would guarantee their money is safe.

Fielding questions from journalists on the sidelines of the event, Head of Investment Education at the Commission, Mr.

Francis Okafor, urged Nigerians to invest their money wisely instead of keeping them in unsafe places.

He said: “Financial inclusion is mostly for the excluded.

We go to the grassroot because it is this kind of people that keep money under the bed which is a minus to the gross domestic product of the country.

We encouraged them to bring it to the bank so that it can be used to stimulate the economy,” While disclosing that SEC was partnering with other financial bodies to ensure the financial inclusion of all Nigerians, Mr. Okafor, said the regulator is developing a commodity ecosystem for the country.

He explained that the commodity ecosystem was mainly about commodities and agricultural products.

“Beyond oil, agriculture is a subsector that can increase and bring the country to limelight; we have seen that agriculture is going down and that is where the commodity ecosystem comes in.

“We are hoping to establish and increase a commodity exchange that we will compete with be better than what we have today in stock exchanges,’’ he said.

He disclosed that the ecosystem is presently at the implementation stage For his part, Head of Awareness Unit, Nigeria pension Commission (PenCom), Emeka Onuora, said that the Micro pension scheme will bring the informal sector into the pension scheme.

He explained that the new scheme comes with incentives that will make it flexible to operate.

“We want to include those who are on their own.

We believe they should have time to retire, it doesn’t mean that when you work on your own you can’t retire.

There is need to contribute something for pension before you retire,” he said

 

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