Some capital market operators on Monday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure that stakeholders were adhering strictly to corporate governance codes.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the erosion of investor confidence in the capital market was due to poor enforcement of corporate governance codes.

According to them, SEC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) need to collaborate on policy formulation to avoid mismatch of policies and further crash of the market.

Mr. Wale Onigbode, the Chief Executive of Calyx Securities Ltd., said that the crisis in the management and board of SEC had worsened investor confidence in the market in spite of the strong fundamentals.

Onigbode said that movement of funds from the capital market to the money market instruments had worsened the liquidity crisis in the market. He said that consistency in market regulation was key to wooing investors back to the market.

Malam GarbaKurfi, the Managing Director of APT Securities and Funds Ltd., said that the pivotal role of the capital market made it imperative for the Federal Government to pay more attention to the market.

He said that the market needed strong liquidity to ensure stability and check the increasing short-term sales among investors.

Mr David Adonri, the Chief Executive Officer of Lambeth Trust & Investment Ltd., said that investors would shift from fixed income securities to equities as soon as interest and inflation rates dropped to single digit rates.

“It is the responsibility of the fiscal and monetary authorities to create the policy environment that would prevent crowding out of the equities market,” he said.

Adonri said that the gain recorded last week in spite of the liquidity squeeze was due to investors’ sentiment on the return of Alhaji Aliko Dangote as President of the Nigerian stock Exchange.