Stories by Chinenye Anuforo
The former Group Managing Director of Ecobank TransNational Incorporated, Arnold Ekpe, has urged the Federal Government to inject fresh fund into the system to tackle infrastructure issues in order to grow indigenous firms and revive the manufacturing sector.
Ekpe, while speaking on the theme: ‘Financial Turbulence and Regulatory Framework in a recessed economy’, at the weekend in Lagos, during the triennial conference of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) submitted that there was need for government to tackle the huge infrastructure deficit in Nigeria and boost indigenous firms.
He bemoaned the effects of infrastructure deficit on the macro-economy and on the standard of living, noting that weak infrastructure exerts a huge burden on foreign and local businesses.
“Other countries that have faced similar challenges put together an expansionary budget that money can be injected into the system to fund infrastructure and revive local industries to create job and increase business and not job losses or business collapse.
“Government must inject money to fix infrastructure and lower interest and get projects going. The budget is an expansionary one let us spend it. Our interest rate has deteriorated; we have not been able to manage our currency well. We need to regain our position as number one economy.
“We need to build a viable economy that can create jobs and encourage local industries and boost manufacturing. Our economy must grow in a manner that our brothers and sisters can get jobs. If we do not grow, the rest of the world will leave us behind,” he said.
The Managing Director, Financial Derivatives, Bismarck Rewane stressed the need for government to concession assets that is difficult to manage and deploy the proceed for infrastructure development, especially the power sector to increase productivity.
“We need to raise money from international organisations like ADB and concession those assets we cannot manage like the railway, airports and put the money in power to increase productivity.
“We must reduce interest rate and unlock funds for debt, expand credit supply and reduce the CRR for banks to lend to real sector. Stimulus package will help to set the tone for recovery. The symptoms of wellness of the recovery will be showing from 2017 but by 2018, Nigeria will be well again,” he predicted.
Also contributing, the Chief Executive Officer of Augusto and Co Limited, Vivian Shobo stated that a lot of regulatory policies are deterring investment in Nigeria.
“Our debt level is not sustainable. We need infrastructure; we must attract Foreign Direct Investment. We must encourage local participation in the stock market. We must create export incentives to encourage entrepreneurs in the non-oil export sector,” she added.
E-dividend scheme captures fresh 5000 investors in Sept
The introduction of E-Dividend champion by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) attracted the registration of additional 5000 investors in September.
According to the SEC’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mr. Naif Abdussalam, up to 5000 investors registered through various bank branches and registrars across the nation.
The SEC launched the E-dividend payment system to reduce the level of unclaimed dividend in the market, ease the direct cash settlement initiative and generally boost capital market processes that will enable investors get returns with ease.
However since the introduction of this directive to register under e-dividend system in December 2015, the SEC noted that only 5000 investors from a projection of one million had registered as at August this year. This then prompted the SEC at its last Capital Market Committee meeting to agree with all the bank representatives and registrars that both party appoint e-dividend Champions to help drive the process effectively.
To further encourage shareholders to embark on the registration for e-dividend, the Director General of SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, restated the SEC’s commitment towards the success of the initiative by underwriting the cost of e-dividend registration till December 31, 2016, but noted that as from June 30, 2017, all registered registrars in the capital market will stop issuing dividend warrants to shareholders.
Speaking on complaints regarding the e-dividend process, a representative of NIBSS Mr. Samuel Oluyemi, had explained that NIBSS has agreed with the banks and registrars to resolve issues pertaining to any of the challenges within three to four days of the complaints.
With the newly-captured 5,000 investors, it brings to total 11,000 registered under the e-dividend system, which is still a far cry from over a million investors projected before the set deadline of June 30, 2017.