Stakeholders say financial literacy can help bridge gaps in capital market investment.
Aderemi Ojekunle is a Businessamlive Reporter.
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Charles Abuede
Capital market stakeholders have said that academia, as well as a strategic collaborative effort, can encourage financial literacy and bridge existing gaps in investment while creating long-lasting relationships that will help to modernize innovations aimed at driving growth in the Nigerian capital market.
This was the key outcome of a virtual symposium organised by the Abuja branch of the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI) themed, “Role of academia in the development of the capital market”, and monitored by Business A.M on Tuesday.
Speaking at the symposium Lamido Yuguda, SEC director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission and chairman of the NCMI board, in his keynote remark expressed optimism while assuring that the capital market regulator will encourage financial literacy and bridge the gaps in investment in the capital market.
“The symposium theme is timely as it mandates on investors education. However, SEC is committed to encouraging financial literacy and bridging gaps in the investment in the capital market. As regulators, we shall continue to support the impacts that are aimed at the development of the market,” he stated.
Uche Uwaleke, a professor of capital market and president of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria, who was the lead speaker, said that there is a need for strong regulations which are aimed at protecting investors and also introduce capital market programmes to Nigerian schools.
“For our capital market to be the most liquid in emerging market economies, we need the building blocks of a large number of informed participants requiring effective teaching for a high rate of financial market knowledge, specialist skills in the market intermediation enhanced by research, strong regulations to protect investors supported by research, government support requiring strong advocacy as a service to the market,” the capital market expert said.
The event was purposefully aimed at bridging the knowledge gap between the capital market and the academia, as well as equipping the institutions with the requisite knowledge and skills for research and publication which are knowledge-based nature of the capital market.