Investor apathy: Regulators set to focus on education

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has said that it has been actively involved in various attempts to salvage the market from its current dwindling state.According to the NSE, one of the areas of focus is investor education.The Exchange explained that this had become important due to the fact that a large number of investors recorded huge losses in the market in the last few years owing to wrong investment choices.The NSEs Chief of Staff, Mr. Bola Adeeko, who gave this hint in a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday, noted that the regulator was putting in concerted efforts towards ensuring that investors were well educated on steps to take in investing in the market.According to him, some investors who were affected in the market did not know the first thing about investing and made a lot of investment mistakes in the process.He said, It is true that a lot of factors, both internal and external, contributed to the huge losses recorded in the market in 2008, ranging from the global financial crisis to other internal factors. However, the fact remains that some investors did not do due diligence before investing in the market.For instance, investing in the market is meant to be in the long-term, but a lot of investors were involved in speculative investments, which really affected their investments. As a result, they had their fingers burnt.He added that the Exchange was, therefore, taking steps to ensure that investors were armed with adequate information required to make informed investment decisions in the market.Recently, the Managing Director, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Emmanuel Ukpabi, had tasked market regulators to ensure that investors returned to invest in the market.According to him, at this point in the market, there is need for investors to know the intricacies behind making the best investment decisions and how they can have good returns on their investments.He said, It is alarming to note that most of shares on the NSEs Daily Official List are currently selling far below their real value. This is as a result of the continuous losses recorded in the market since the beginning of the year. However, what some investors may not know is that this is actually the right time to make some informed investment decision.Therefore, what I would suggest is that the market regulators, such as the NSE and the SEC, do all they can to restore investor-confidence in the market. They have a monumental challenge to ensure that the dwindling confidence in the market is restored.Ukpabi added that the regulators should also enhance the speed of capital market transactions and processes, stressing that these would attract more investors into the market.
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