Miffed by the low investors’ confidence in the nation’s capital market, Bauchi State Gevernor, Isa Yuguda has stressed the need for public and private Stakeholders to ensure that confidence was restored in the fledging market.
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Yuguda who made the appeal at a Public Policy Forum,? entitled “Restoring Market Confidence in an Era of Economic Uncertainties: Challenges and Prospects,” orgainsed by Business Hallmark, said the capital market which is the barometer of the nation’s economic growth must be given full attention by the government and private stakeholders.
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“In the mid 2008 when the global financial crisis started, the market capitalisation of equities dropped to about N8.8 trillion though the number of equities increased to about 216. Since the beginning of the economic meltdown in mid 2008, the market is yet to regain its confidence due to the loses suffered by the investors.
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“In this era of gloomy investors’ confidence and the need to restore market confidence, it is pertinent to mention that all hands of public and private sector stakeholders? must be on deck, to ensure that confidence is restored to the capital market,” he said.
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He noted that there was the need for the government to deepen the market by privatising government owned companies to create space for private sector participation for an eventual listing on the Stock Exchange.
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“It is hard to find any of these government companies working optimally, so for the growth and development of the economy to be facilitated, there is need for these companies to be privatised for efficient management,” he said.
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Yuguda called on the management of the Exchange to as much as possible reach out to the three tiers of government to let them see reason why government entities should be privatised and list on the Exchange to attract investments.
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He identified insufficient liquidity in the system, inadequate investor protection, lack of market depth, loss of investors’ confidence in the capital market, attraction and sustenance of Foreign Direct Investments in the capital market as major challenges impeding the growth of the Exchange.
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Yuguda called for tax holidays for new companies coming to list on the Exchange, adding that offering incentives to growth sectors of the Exchange would further drive liquidity in the market and enhance restoration of investors’ confidence which has eluded the Exchange.
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He noted that if new listings were encouraged and given special concession like tax holiday for a period, it would aid the growth of many firms and flow of investments in the market.