SEC committed to developing commodities ecosystem — Uduk

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday reiterated its commitment to ensuring that the commodities ecosystem in Nigeria is strengthened so that it contributes to economic development.

The acting Director-General of SEC, Mary Uduk who stated this while speaking at the opening of a two-day capacity building programme on commodities trading ecosystem for staff of some federal ministries in Abuja, also underscored the need for a vibrant commodities ecosystem to aid diversification from oil to non-oil sectors and boost the nation’s revenues and foreign exchange (Forex) earnings.

Represented by Head, Registration, Exchanges, Market Infrastructure and Innovation at the SEC, Mr. Emomotimi Agama, Uduk said the commission is collaborating with relevant stakeholders to implement the 10-year capital market master plan and make Nigeria one of the world’s most liquid and Africa’s largest economy by 2025.

She said “one of the crucial initiatives of the plan was to develop a thriving commodities trading ecosystem and fully utilise the nation’s potentials. We believe that if we can develop a vibrant commodities trading ecosystem in Nigeria, we can substantially address lack of storage, poor pricing, non-standardisation and low contribution of foreign exchange affecting our commodities sub-sector”.

The acting DG stated that the role of commodity exchanges were critical to economic growth, especially in the areas of price transparency and value addition to farmers, ensuring quality products for buyers and providing investment opportunities across the value chain.

Uduk said Nigeria was still challenged in the area of transiting from an informal commodity trading system to one consummated on the platforms of commodity exchanges.

She said if the country pays adequate attention to agriculture, it would boost food security, enhance job creation and facilitate production of raw materials for agro-processing pointing out that the capital market must operate at optimum level, even as the implementation of its 10-year master plan remains a priority.

The training is being organised in two tranches, the first tranche consists of staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.