Following a fallout from the CMC’s conference that the entertainment industry should seek listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, shareholders are of the view that they cannot list except incorporated by CAC as a company with a product. Excerpt:

Mr Boniface Okezie, President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN),

Except the entertainment industry have formed a company registered and established with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) incorporated and have an appointed manager or a MD to run the company, that is the only time they can list or if they have an industry where they can manufacture and produce their own films then they can talk of listing. As far as am concerned there is nothing they can list because as an association or guild of actors and actresses you can not list, it is not tenable. There must be something they are producing for them to list, if they are producing and making films then they can list as a company.

The people encouraging them are not getting it right, because the government supports them by mapping out money, that money is suppose to be used for an industry where they produce films and make disc, where people can go and record and pay in form of studios. We are not saying they should be listed as a body or as an association but we want them to list as a company producing something.

Also, they cannot borrow from the capital market, this is because they are just an association or a guild and any bank giving them money is taking risk. They must form a company incorporated by CAC that is the only way you can list them. Government can give them money to encourage them, they can as well use it to form a company to be run proper and earn profit then they can list and pay back to the government.

Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, founding member of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA)

I wonder how they are going to package them to list, what product they are going to be selling will determine if they will be listed on the Stock Exchange. If it has been done somewhere else then they can look at the criteria and do same on our market but if not, I don’t think it is ideal.

If it is the hotels it is a different thing but just an individual in the entertainment industry is unimaginable how they intend to do it. Sometimes the government of Nigeria thinks they know it all, this is because if they don’t have product to sell and services to render, they just feel they can list as a guild or as an association let wait and see. People come to the stock market to buy not based on individual parameter. They must have something on ground before listing, it is what you have that will drive buyers to invest in your company.