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Nigerian Stocks, World's Most ProfitableNigerian Stocks, World's Most Profitable - NSE
This Day
Ayodele Aminu
8 June 2007
Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Excha-nge (NSE), Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike, told institutional investors and portfolio managers in London yesterday to channel their investments to Nigeria, saying they stood to get over 400 percent returns.
Speaking at an Investors' Forum organised by the NSE and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), she said the return on investment which foreign investors stood to gain in Nigeria is, in dollar terms, the highest in the world.
She also appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not to keep investors (both foreign and local) waiting for several months in their quest to probe laundered and terrorist funds.
"Return on investment in Nigeria is highest in the world. Institutional investors like the Renaissance Capital can't get more than 8 percent return on investment in other countries but they can get more than 400 percent in Nigeria.
"We are happy that some of the foreign banks are now calling on Nigerian banks to partner with them. We have two institutional investors that are interested in our banks and they are just two of the many others that are interested in our local banks," she said.
She noted that these foreign banks were not coming into the country to takeover the Nigerian banks but to add value and bring in more funds, which would ultimately help to reduce lending rates and grow the Nigerian economy.
"We want them to grow our banks and lend money to Nigerians at 4 percent per annum and not the prevailing 24 per cent because it is difficult for an average entrepreneur to borrow funds at above 6 percent and make profit," she explained.
The NSE boss, who was responding to a question from an institutional investor that invested in one of the Nigerian banks which recently raised funds but had to withdraw after waiting for several months, stressed the need for both the CBN and EFCC to help hasten the fund raising process in the capital market.
"When banks come to raise money, investors are kept waiting for six months because of CBN and EFCC investigation. Ordinarily, the process should not take more than six to eight weeks. I think what the CBN and EFCC should do is to flag off the percentage of the suspects' investment and let others trade on their shares.
"I think where we should worry or bother is when money leaves the country but if such money is coming in, we should allow it to come into the country and grow the economy so that we can borrow money at 4 percent," she said.
Also speaking at the Forum, Stephen Jennings, CEO, Renaissance Group, the co-sponsors of the conference, where over 12 Nigerian firms were in attendance, noted that Nigeria is the fastest growing capital market in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa "if not the entire continent."
Noting that the market is becoming faster in reacting to opportunities, he said "the speed of domestic and international market development we are witnessing in Nigeria outstrips anything we experienced in other markets."
Given this scenario, Jennings, whose company would be investing over $1 billion in Nigeria, said "this means if the right environment is established in Nigeria, the rewards from the capital markets will very large and very rapid."
He said his company's investment focus "in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa shall be in two fold: to give Nigerian companies full open access to the lowest cost and most stable capital available globally: and to help build a world class capital market within Nigeria."
Copyright © 2007 This Day
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