Emefiele Reassures Capital Market on Economy

L-R: 1st Vice President NSE Abimbola Ogunbanjo, Oscar N. Onyema CEO NSE, Godwin Emefiele Gov. CBN and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede during the closing gong of the market at the NSE Trading floor in Lagos

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has reassured the capital market, the investing public and foreign investment partners over the state of the Nigerian Economy.

 

Mr. Emefiele while beating the gong to mark the close of trading at the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday, February 12, 2015 noted that the Nigerian economy has sustained the highest growth rate over the years, estimated currently at over 5 per cent.

 

He added that the fiscal authorities had already engaged the Mackenzie Group to restructure the non-oil revenue collection mechanism, which yielded for the first time, the sum of N75billion in 2014 and this was expected to grow to N150 billion in the current fiscal year (2015).

 

The CBN Governor told the NSE Council members and the stock brokers at the floor of the Exchange that it was normal to express concern over the falling oil prices, urging them not to panic. He stated that if Nigeria could wade through the 1993 election adjudged as the worst in history, there was no reason why the country would not surmount the present election.

 

Welcoming the CBN Governor, Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, expressed delight at the visit of the CBN Governor, which according to him, signifies new level of cooperation between the regulators of the money and capital markets.

 

Also speaking at the occasion, the President in Council of the NSE, Mr. Aiboje Aig-Imoukhuede, extolled the visit of Mr. Emefiele and especially for his inspiring speech that has infused hope and confidence in the stock market and the economy at large. He noted that given Mr. Emefiele’s wealth of experience in the financial industry over the years, there was no doubt that he would carry the economy through the present storm.

 

In a vote of thanks, the doyen of the stockbrokers, Alhaji Rasheed Yusuf, expressed the excitement and profound gratitude of the stock market operators to Mr. Emefiele for the visit. He promised that the exchange is ever ready to cooperate and work closely with the monetary authorities in steering the economy to the path of growth.

 

He stated that the NSE is not just the African largest exchange in size, but in terms of resources. Alhaji Yusuf called for periodic meetings between the authorities of both markets in order to iron out differences in policy prescriptions that could impact negatively on the stock market.

 

Dignitaries present at the occasion were the CBN Deputy Governors, Economic Policy, Corporate Services and Financial System Strategy, Dr. (Mrs) Sarah Alade, Alhaji Suleiman Barau and Joseph Nnanna, respectively. Other Council Members of the NSE present were Engr. Muhammed Daggash, Victor Ogiemwonyi and Mrs. Yemisi Ayeni and Albert Okumogba.

 

Accompanying the CBN Governors were the CBN Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Mu’azu, CBN Governor’s Adviser on Communication, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor, and the Acting Director, Governors’ Department Mr. Oghenekaro Oloriand other CBN Executives.