Nigeria offers multinationals incentives to list on Nigerian Stock Exchange

Nigerian Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo says the federal government is willing to give incentives to multinational companies and telecommunications operators to encourage them to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Osinbajo said this during a courtesy visit to the NSE in Lagos on Friday where he sounded the closing gong for the week.

The Vice President noted that government would encourage more companies to list on the NSE in order to create prosperity for the investing public and deepen the capital market.

He assured the capital market operators that government would work with the NSE and encourage an incentive regime to ensure listing of more companies on the NSE to deepen the market.

Speaking further, the Vice President emphasised the need for  partnership and smooth collaboration between the government and the capital market community as necessary to tackle the current economic challenges.

“We must see ourselves as partners working together to move our nation forward,” Osinbajo stated.

While noting that the private sector play key roles in the nation’s economic fortunes, Prof. Osinbajo agreed that they must work hand in hand with the government to tackle the country’s economic challenges.

In his remarks, NSE Council President, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede,  lauded the vice president for the visit. He also gave a commitment of the NSE to work with the Federal Government to overcome present economic situation.

According to him, the Vice President has given hope and confidence to the market community to overcome economic and financial market challenges.

“We are going through difficult times no doubt, but very soon we will see better times,” Aig-Imoukhuede stated.

He stated further that the NSE would follow up on the federal government on their consultations and the plans of the government for the capital market.

Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the doyen of stockbrokers, said that the present government had taken some bold steps to strengthen the economy.

The doyen, however, sued for proper interaction between the stock market community and the federal government to ensure economic growth and development.

He urged the Vice President who is also the head of the government’s economic team to incorporate one of the stockbrokers in the economic team.

“We want to have one of us on the federal government economic management team to ensure friendly policies that will lift the market forward,” Yussuf said.

He said that most of the policies taken in the past were not investor friendly, noting that, the capital market was a barometer for any economy.