FG To Review Capital Market Master Plan

Ganiyat Ganiyu

The federal government is set to review the Capital Market Masterplan in order to align with the assumptions and projections of the current realities in the country.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, while inaugurating the National Savings Strategy, NSS, Workgroup in Abuja on Friday said the Capital Market Masterplan proposed the NSS as one of the key initiatives to drive capital formation and investment necessary to support entrepreneurs and enterprise development in the urgent task of diversifying the economy and deepening of the market.

According to her, efforts were ongoing to review the Masterplan to align the assumptions and projections with current realities, adding: “This is indeed a very important step in redefining the road-map for stakeholder participation in the Nigerian capital market.

“My expectation, when the review is concluded is that we would have a strategic document that provides a clear pathway that would enable the Nigeria’s capital market achieve the goal to be Africa’s largest, deepest and most liquid capital market contributing not only to Nigeria’s socio-economic development but also serve as a global financial hub offering opportunities to other parts of Africa.”

The minister observed that to lift the equities market, galvanise new start-ups and expand existing projects, there should be a deliberate provision of naira-based risk capital.

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“In essence, nurturing, growing and channeling domestic savings to fund the creation of new enterprises would result in rapid economic growth, diversification of the economy, accelerated job creation and increased productivity and output of the Nigerian economy,” the minister stated.

A statement issued by the Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the minister, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi said while inaugurating the Workgroup, Ahmed listed its terms of reference to include to study the NSS paper and advise the federal government on the feasibility of the proposals.

The proposal would also advise on ways and means of mobilising and channeling corporate and individual savings to accelerate domestic capital formation to support entrepreneurs and enterprise development in the urgent task of diversifying the economy and the deepening of the capital market.

Others are to draft a National Working Paper that outlines a detailed roadmap on the implementation of the National Savings Scheme to be submitted for approval by the Federal Executive Council; and to engage all relevant stakeholders and carry out any relevant activity towards the actualisation of the mandate of the working group.

She noted that the members of the working group were carefully selected to ensure a rich combination of skill, experience and competence necessary to deliver on the task at hand.

Members of the inaugurated Federal Working Group of the NSS are Mr. Fola Adeola (Banking & Investment)–Chairman; Dr. Ore Sofekun (Fund & Investment Management); Mrs. Tokunboh Ishmael (Private Equity & Venture Capital), and Mrs. Elizabeth Ngozi Ebi (Stock Brokerage), among others.