By Henry Umoru, Emman Ovuakporie, Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Joseph Erunke

ABUJA—THE National Assembly, NASS, disclosed yesterday that plans have been concluded to make laws to strengthen and shore up the capital market through a Capital Market Master Plan.

It also said the federal government had injected a total of N6.5 billion for investment of security funds that would help protect investment in the country.

NASS said that the master plan would help the Nigerian entrepreneurs to enable them have access to long term funds for productive activities as well as enhance their capacity to create employment opportunities, adding that the lawmakers were planning to expand the capital market because no law existed to compel the federal government to use idle funds in the capital market.

Addressing journalists yesterday, the Chairmen of joint Committees on Capital Markets and Institutions of both the House of Representatives and Senate, Tajudeen Yusuf and Senator Isiaka Adeleke respectively, disclosed that the National Assembly was putting up a comprehensive legislation to provide legal backing to the Capital Market Master Plan that will run from 2015-2025.

They added that the master plan had been designed for rejuvenation of the economy.

According to NASS, the move to put the laws in place will help in the creation of liquidity and investment opportunities for both foreign and local investors and facilitate the translation of pension funds into investments for national economic development as well as encourage an environment of transparency and accountability in all domestic capital market transactions.

As part of moves to create an enabling legal environment for the capital market to grow, the lawmakers disclosed that plans were on to organize a two-day stakeholders’ forum on capital markets and the Nigerian economy with the theme, “Realizing the full potentials of the Nigerian Economy through a proactive Capital Market Legislation.”