Being text of the speech by Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru Kwairanga, Group Chairman of NGX at the recent event: The Africa Capital Forum at Peninsula London: From Stabilisation to Capital Mobilisation.
It gives me great pleasure to make a few remarks at the Africa Capital Forum with the theme from Stabilisation to Capital Mobilisation.
My focus is on Nigeria, first because that is my country but also because Nigeria accounts for more than a quarter of Africa’s population and represents a lot that is worthy of note and admirable about Africa’s challenges and promise.
After several long years of strained finances when Nigeria’s economy was strained by low investor confidence, foreign exchange scarcity, declining manufacturing and over reliance on volatile crude oil exports, the first term of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has brought a much-needed turnaround.
It took some tough decisions and impacted on the lives of all Nigerians in the short term, but as the theme of the forum says, Nigeria’s economy has stabilised and has started to grow steadily again.
The indices which the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Dr. Yemi Cardoso has rolled out tell part of the story. Our stock market which is my primary constituency also shows the positive impact of the reforms put in place by our President and his economic team.
The All-Share Index when President Tinubu took over was 55, 808. Market Capitalisation was N30. 388 trillion. Trading volumes were very low.
Three years on, the All-Share Index crossed a historic 200, 000 mark to settle at 201,474, a 261% gain. Market capitalisation has increased to N129.32 trillion, a 325% increase. Trading volume and value have increased four-fold. In the case of the Nigerian capital market, we have not only stabilised, we have grown tremendously.
But we are only just getting started. Our ambition is to grow the Nigerian capital market’s indices three folds in the next two years and we have lined up a number of exciting listings to take us there including the listing of the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex by the middle of this year.
We are also firmly invested in President Tinubu’s intention to expand Nigeria’s economy to a trillion-dollar economy by the year 2030 and we are confident that the capital market will reflect that projected growth.
Getting to that target however requires enormous capital from within and from outside the country and that is why I join other speakers here to encourage you to see Nigeria as a prime investment destination and a safe haven for your assets in Africa.
Thank you.
Alhaji (Dr) Umaru Kwairanga
Chairman, NGX Group
