We Will Weed Out Fraudulent Investors From Nigeria’s Capital Market — FG

Vice President Kashim Shettima, has said the Federal Government will remove fraudulent investors from Nigeria’s capital markets to ensure the sanctity of transactions done on the capital market.

Shettima disclosed this at the 3rd West Africa Capital Market Conference (WACMaC) with the theme: “Infrastructural Deficit and Sustainable Financing in an Integrated West African Capital Market” held in Lagos, on Wednesday.

He said, “These times call for innovation, ingenuity, thinking ahead and at the speed of light, inventiveness, diversification of product offerings, continuous education and interaction with the public at every platform, online and offline.

“We have to do all that it takes legitimately to establish a solid base for our capital market to weed out unscrupulous elements who get into the market and find ways of confusing folks about their registration and affiliations with capital market regulators just to run scams on people and I know that Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has always been pursuing a lot of these people around.”

Recall that in May 2023, firms like Prime Invest and Primeinv.co, FXBoxed, New Finance LLC and New Fx Limited, Axi24, Evolve Consulting LCC and Trust Fund- Mining Global Pty Limited were blacklisted because they were not registered by SEC Nigeria and the financial services offered by them are also not authorized.

Speaking further, Shettima said operators must be deliberate on how to meet the challenges the capital market presently faces by meeting young West Africans online, creating apps that they can relate to, and using blockchains where necessary to show transparency and give them the control that they seek.

He said, “Innovations have turned out more than ever to be both a potent advantage and disadvantage depending on one’s readiness to engage. Indeed, it is said that the best way to prepare for the future is to create it. Where are we on this? Whereas capital market development in any nation is not an easy task, much less its maintenance and sustainability.

“Show them value, solidity, history, structure, resilience, and sustainability so that rather than invest in reckless risky ventures where their monies disappear daily, they will learn the beauty of capital market investments and will through your efforts invest in the companies and instruments that will guarantee the future of West Africa, the very last bastion of development and opportunities in the world.

“We have only just begun; we have seen the surge of cryptocurrencies and other instruments and traits in West Africa and not all the stories had happy endings.

“We must understand that though savings may be shrinking across the world and the economic crisis has caused the shrinkage in investable funds, still those funds are there and only the truly innovative will access them.”

He implored West Africa Regulators and Operators to think hard to find liquidity, growth and sustainability in their markets saying if stock exchanges in developed countries still thrive like New York, London, Amsterdam, Bombay and Egypt there is no reason why West African exchanges should not thrive.

The Director-General of SEC and Chairman of the West Africa Securities Regulators Association, (WASRA), Mr Lamido Yuguda said the conference was conceived as a platform to address crucial issues related to the orderly growth and development of regional and continental capital markets.

Yuguda said, “WACMIC and WASRA bring together the securities exchanges, central securities depositories and commissions of the sub-region, comprising Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA), with Morocco as an observer member.

“Our mission, as outlined in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS0 Commission Treaty, is to facilitate the issuance and trading of financial securities across the region.”