Mounir Gwarzo, Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission
He said the continued absence of the companies from the NSE and NASD was making the country to lose huge revenue through taxation.
Gwarzo said this during the NSE/London Stock Exchange dual listing conference held in Lagos on Tuesday. The theme of the conference was ‘Leveraging cross-border capital markets for sustainable growth’.
“Very high percentage of taxes paid to the government comes from quoted firms. It is, therefore, in the interest of the country that these companies and more are listed on these markets,” he said.
The SEC DG said the call for listing by the firms was hinged on the need to give the capital market the required depth to drive economic growth for the country.
Speaking on the NSE/LSE dual listing move, Gwarzo said foreign partnerships were critical in driving competitiveness, effectiveness and growth of local markets, adding that the partnership was a welcome development.
Also addressing stakeholders at the conference, the Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Oscar Onyema, said capital markets were critical to the sustainability of growth and development in an economy.
He said one of the things that Nigeria and Africa needed to sustain growth was a solid and vibrant capital market ecosystem that would attract investment and unlock the potential that existed in the economy.
Onyema said, “Capital markets increase the proportion of long-term savings that are channelled to long-term investments.
“Our collaboration with the LSE is deliberate and strategic. It is geared towards encouraging seamless cross-border access between our capital markets to ultimately drive deeper capital markets that enable capital formation for businesses and governments; create larger liquidity pools and greater competitiveness for our investors; and enhance capacity and promote diversity of investment products to meet the needs of a wide range of investors and issuers.”
- The Punch
