Experts have called on regulators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to increase their market development programmes in order to boost the dwindling investor confidence in the Exchange.The experts on Monday said that the recent crash in prices of listed equities on the NSE had made many investors and prospective shareholders withdraw their investments from the market, adding that the public needed to be enlightened on the current available opportunities in the stock market.The Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited, Mr. Akeem Oyewole, while speaking at a workshop organised by the NSE in Lagos, called on the Securities and Exchange Commission, the body regulating the Nigerian capital market, to come up with incisive ideas that would educate investors on the gains of the capital market.He said, If there was any time for the regulator to educate the investing public, I think it is now. This is because our market is still far from its expected position and has even dropped beyond what it used to be months away.Speaking on how the commission could assist in boosting market performance, Oyewole noted that the SEC should collaborate with relevant stakeholders to introduce new products and processes.According to him, the SEC should also encourage improved investor participation in the market through any or a combination of activities including organising workshops and seminars, town -hall meetings, television and radio programmes.Others are the introduction of e-processes, e.g. e-dividend, e-allotment, etc; secondary school quiz and essay competitions; introduction of capital market studies in tertiary institutions; and publications in journals, bulletins and cartons.Oyewole further stressed that in regulating the market, SECs role was to protect investors, market operators and also ensure market integrity, adding that until the commission lived up to its full duty, investors might continue withdrawing from the Exchange.Speaking further on the subject, the Chief Equity Analyst, Palesa Capital Markets Associates Limited, Mr. Normah Awoh, noted that investors were very observant of the activities of market regulators, adding that any attempt to strengthen market development programmes would impact positively on the activities of the Exchange.He called on the authorities to always look for ways to rescue the Exchange from further crash and that investors had lost enough funds already in various equities.He said, Programmes that will enhance market operations should not cease, considering current activities within our market. So it is important for regulators to always come up with development programmes.
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