SEC pushes for Nigerian commodities to be accepted in international market
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC has called on critical stakeholders to work hard to make the country’s agricultural commodities to be accepted in the international market.
To this end, it Commission expressed readiness to collaborate with the National Pension Commission, PenCom, on areas that would assist in deepening the commodities ecosystem.
In a statement by the Commission, Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, said: “We have recorded a lot of successes in the sector so far and we see a lot of progress in the development of the sector. We are currently working with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, to develop standards that would make these our commodities acceptable in the international market. This would further boost our foreign exchange earnings and create wealth for our people.”
According to the statement, Yuguda, speaking through the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services of the SEC, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi, who represented him at a courtesy visit to the PenCom, stated that the SEC is very passionate about the commodities sector as it has enormous benefits for the Nigerian economy.
He stated: “One of the key pillars of the Capital Market Master Plan is the development of the commodities ecosystem which gives our nation the opportunity to diversify both the capital market and the economy and also create more products.
“We have witnessed major achievements by the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange, LFCE, and we are happy to see them progress. We are committed to creating the rules that will ensure investor protection. It is a strategic focus for us to deliver one of our key mandates which is market development that will lead to economic development. Our focus remains market integrity, market fairness and investor protection”.
Speaking earlier, Managing Director of LFCE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said the commodities exchanges are interested in exploring avenues for investing pension funds in the capital market.
He expressed his joy that the SEC is spearheading the moves to further boost the utilisation of pensions funds in the market adding that if pension funds are not reflated, inflation would keep affecting it.
“The primary part of our economic raw materials in crude oil, if you don’t capitalise the primary sector, the manufacturing sector will suffer, same as the service sector. SEC has made provisions for the PFAs (Pension Funds Administrators) to invest in the commodities sector and this is expected to catalyse our economy and spur growth” he said.
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