By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Chairman Senate Committee on Capital Market, Mr Ibikunle Amosun, has expressed worry over the tumbling of local stocks at the market.
Speaking last week during a visit to the Lagos Zonal office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the former Governor of Ogun State said he hopes things get better very soon.
Prices of stocks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been falling due to the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe at the moment, infecting over 400,000 persons and causing several deaths.
But Mr Amosun said the capital market can come to the rescue and also prevent the economy from the brink of recession in the face of COVID-19.
According to him, there is no better time than now for the federal and state governments to leverage opportunities provided by the capital market for sourcing infrastructure financing.
“We now know what the capital market can do to rescue the economy at a time like this.
“Shares are tumbling but we hope it won’t last long, however, we also have to look inwards and explore ways of diversifying our economy away from crude oil.
“If we have to diversify our economy, the capital market has a role to play and that is why we are here to support you. We will support the capital market for our country to realise these economic goals,” he said.
The Committee Chairman commended stakeholders in the market on their efforts so far, adding that there’s room for improvement in efforts to get the nation’s economy on the right path.
Mr Amosun assure that the National Assembly was ready to assist with enabling legislation that would provide the right environment for the capital market to thrive.
“We are happy with what we have seen so far, we are on the right path. But there is room for improvement to get our economy to where we want it to be. We need to have the enabling laws in place to create an enabling environment for the market to thrive and the National Assembly is ready to assist in that regard,” he added.
In her remarks, Acting Director General of the SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, commended the members of the committee on their drive to ensure that the capital market is stable and able to attract more investors.
This she said the National Assembly has done by supporting the SEC in ensuring that it delivers on its mandate of regulating and developing the capital market.
“This visit is important to us because o er 90% of Capital market operators are here and Lagos is very strategic to the Commission’s mandate
“We are glad the senators are here, so they are able to see for themselves what we do and assist in whatever way possible to make our market one of the best performing in the world,” she said.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya