The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC has called on critical stakeholders to work hard to make the country’s agricultural commodities to be accepted in the international market.
To this end, it Commission expressed readiness to collaborate with the National Pension Commission, PenCom, on areas that would assist in deepening the commodities ecosystem.
In a statement by the Commission, the Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, said: “We have recorded a lot of successes in the sector so far and we see a lot of progress in the development of the sector. We are currently working with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, to develop standards that would make these commodities acceptable in the international market. This would further boost our foreign exchange earnings and create wealth for our people.”
According to the statement, Yuguda, speaking through the Executive Commissioner Corporate Services of the SEC, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi, who represented him at a courtesy visit to the PenCom, stated that the SEC is very passionate about the commodities sector as it has enormous benefits for the Nigerian economy.
He stated: “One of the key pillars of the Capital Market Master Plan is the development of the commodities ecosystem which allows our nation to diversify both the capital market and the economy and also create more products.
“We have witnessed major achievements by the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange, LFCE, and we are happy to see them progress. We are committed to creating the rules that will ensure investor protection. It is a strategic focus for us to deliver one of our key mandates which are market development that will lead to economic development. Our focus remains market integrity, market fairness, and investor protection”.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of LFCE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said the commodities exchanges are interested in exploring avenues for investing pension funds in the capital market.
He expressed his joy that the SEC is spearheading the moves to further boost the utilization of pension funds in the market adding that if pension funds are not reflated, inflation would keep affecting them.
“The primary part of our economic raw materials is crude oil, if you don’t capitalize the primary sector, the manufacturing sector will suffer, same as the service sector. SEC has made provisions for the PFAs (Pension Funds Administrators) to invest in the commodities sector and this is expected to catalyze our economy and spur growth” he said.
