Chinwendu Obienyi
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has restated its commitment to further educate and enlighten investors in the Nigerian capital market to enhance their ability to make informed investment decisions.
The Acting Director General of SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk, who stated this at the Planning and Writing Workshop for the Development of Capital Market Studies Curriculum (CMSC) for Basic and Senior Secondary Schools levels in Lagos yesterday, said the development of the curriculum is one of such avenues.
Uduk said the commission has been in the vanguard of inculcating financial literacy for a long time because it has realised the need for students to imbibe the culture and habit of being financially literate and to be familiar with the operations of the capital market.
According to her, “this partnership with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to actualise this ground breaking Capital Market literacy programme is part of SEC’s effort at pursuing the implementation of one of the essential initiatives of the 10-year Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan.”
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Uduk said the implementation programme kick-started with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the commission and NERDC in 2016, to develop a stand alone Capital Market Studies (CMS) curriculum for infusion into Basic and Senior Secondary Schools.
“I am happy to announce that after a successful workshop for contents selection, the stage is now set for the planning and writing of the stand alone curriculum. The commission recognises the efforts required for other stages of the programme and remain confident that with the active support and commitment of our stakeholders, we will complete this project,” she stated.
In his welcome address, Executive Secretary, NERDC, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, said the capital market connects the financial sector with the real sector of the economy and in the process, facilitates real sector growth and economic development, adding that it increases the proportion of long term savings that are channeled to long term individuals/households and channels them into long term investments and fulfils the transfer of current purchasing power from surplus sectors of the economy to deficit sections.
He said a nation’s economic growth is expected to promote an efficient and effective financial sector that pools domestic savings and mobilises capital for productive purposes. Hence, he said an economy that is not growing can hinder stock market development and engender such problems as low capitalisation, which limits the savings function of the stock market; and illiquidity of the market, which is a disincentive to investment.
Junaidu described capital market education as a strategic imperative, which requires a comprehensive curriculum run by competent academic and professional personnel, adding that early involvement of the youth in Capital Market Studies could drive profit, growth and perhaps be the much sought antidote to over dependence on paid employments.
He noted that this was one of the reasons SEC approached NERDC to include mainstream capital market issues into the national curriculum.
He, therefore, expressed gratitude to the SEC management on its commitment to the execution of the project.
The 10-year Capital Market Master Plan requires SEC to inculcate the culture of financial literacy and specifically to introduce Capital Market Studies (CMS) into curriculum at all levels of education and to encourage CMS as a degree programme in tertiary institutions.