By Peter Eguwatu, Olasunkanmi Akoni &  Monsur Olowoopejo

lagos—The Nigeria delivery group of the Emerging Capital Market Taskforce, ECMT, and United Kingdom counterpart yesterday, promised to partner with Lagos State and Federal Government to provide robust capital flows for economic development.

The UK government also promised to assist the Federal Government in tackling security issues affecting the nation.

Representatives of the Nigeria-UK Capital Markets Emerging Capital Market Task Force, who met with the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi  Ambode stated that they came to  launch  the inaugural report on the state of the Nigerian Capital Markets, with detailed recommendations for the legal and regulatory environment in order to deepen capital  market capacity and attract domestic and international investment into the country.

The delegation, led by Sir Roger Gifford, former Lord Mayor of the City of London, and President of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) Aigbaje Aig-Imoukhuede, amongst others were received at Lagos State House, Alausa.

Sir Roger Gifford said the .report focused on four key areas including integrity of the market, regulatory infrastructure behind the market, market incentives and barriers as well as market development in the areas of derivatives and commodities.

Gifford said since the last government came in, it has focused on developing financial services business around the world, adding that the British government highlighted the three partners that she is particularly interested in, namely, India, Brazil and Nigeria.

“Stock Market capitalization to Gross Domestic Products, GDP, ratio in many of the markets is 22 percent, Nigeria inclusive, but in the case of UK, it is over 100 percent. There is a huge potential to develop in the capital market.

“The British Government has been working on strategies on how to develop the financial services for many years it didn’t happen, though it is happening now. It has nothing to do with the timing even the last election got in the way of the project. The partnership will increase the level of UK investors into the country. There are opportunities here; the economy is fast growing. The benefits it will bring to the country will not be in the capital market but with some companies coming into the country to do business and to achieve this, we need the right environment, information and others.

“We see a win-win situation for all of us, particularly the Lagos state government and we want to continue that process now over the next six months up to a year where we build capacity, strengthen the regulatory environment and deepen the considerable business links that we have between London and Lagos.”

Also speaking, the Deputy British High Commissioner, Mr. Ray Kyles, in his submission, said on the bilateral relations between Nigeria and UK, a number of sections were identified that the team would be concentrating on.

“They are Education, Agriculture and Energy. Also, going forward, we would be supporting the Federal Government to boost security in the country. Reducing crime in the country is very vital and we stand with the President to ensure that crime rate in the country reduce.

“We will be working closely with the federal government to develop the country to an enviable height.”

Also commenting on the project, Aig-Imokhuede, disclosed that there are five million stakeholders in the stock exchange markets.  According to him, “For instance we brought a privatized company to the Market on the Nigerian Stock Exchange for initial listing. If we educate Nigerians better on the capital market, we could be increasing the number of shareholders in the country. At the moment, we have about five million shareholders in the country.

Addressing the delegation, the governor, noted that tax incentives could be a major catalyst for greater capital flows into the capital markets in Nigeria.

Ambode, who expressed optimism that the report on the state of the Nigeria Capital Markets, put together by the taskforce, will benefit Lagos and Nigeria on the long run, commended the team for embarking on an initiative which he said, has the potential of impacting the transformational development of the capital market.

He said it was not accidental that Lagos was the choice destination for the launch of the report, adding that the state currently holds the fifth position as the largest economy in Africa.

“Lagos state has an important role to play in this process, not just as the host of the key market platforms, but as the largest issuers of sub-sovereign bonds in the Nigerian Capital Market,” he said.