By NKIRUKA NNOROM

Stockbrokers in the nation’s capital market have called for a closer cooperation with the Central Bank of Nigerian, CBN, to tackle the dwindling fortune in the market. Speaking on behalf of other stockbrokers during the visit of the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and his team to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Mr. Sam Ndata, who is the doyen of the stockbrokers, said that the cooperation became necessary in view of the negative impact some monetary policies of the CBN have on operation of the market.

He assured the apex bank of their readiness to work with it in developing the market, saying, “I can assure you that we are ready to cooperate and work with you, particularly in developing local talents because we believe that we have the resources like you said, we have the talent and we have the answer to turn around this exchange to the delight of whole Africa.

“It is not just the largest in terms of size, it is also the largest in terms of resources, and that is why we want to work very closely with you.” Ndata also called for a more regular meeting between the capital market operators and the central bank to thrash out issues in the CBN’s monetary decision that could have the capacity of undermining the growth of the capital market.

He said, “We hope we can formalize this meeting so that there will be regular interactions and regular exchange of views between us because some of the measures that are taken by the monetary side, even when they are good measures, often conflict with the interest of the capital market.

“We believe that if we have an established forum (we used to meet with your predecessor, but that is when the occasion demands), it will augur well with the market. “I will suggest that we formalize this and met more often with the central bank to exchange views on how some of your monetary policies are going to affect the capital market and iron out the differences, so that you can help us in developing the market.”

He, however, decried the preference by regulatory authorities for foreign experts in the country, saying that more attention should be paid to development of local talents.