SON to develop standards for commodities  –SEC DG

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that it was collaborating with the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to develop standards for commodities.

Director General of SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, stated this in Lagos stressed that Nigeria has various commodities that could be exported in a bid to grow the economy, provide jobs for Nigerians as well as provide the nation with forex.

Yuguda said that the agricultural sector in the country is expected to grow significantly soon.

‘’In its desire to ensure that agricultural produce is of exportable standards and quality, the Commission is collaborating with the Standards Organization of Nigeria to develop standards for commodities”, he said.

He disclosed that because of the collaboration with SON, some of the standards have been developed and exposed to different markets close by and they have been received very well.

The DG said that the development of these standards will pave the way for the export of these products to the international market and in turn, boost the Nigerian economy.

He said that the Commission is pleased about the new government’s mention of supporting the commodities sector as it will further boost the SEC’s efforts at developing the Commodities sector.

“Already, we have licensed a total of 5 exchanges and approved the trading and framework for operations of different instruments. We are collaborating with NAICOM, CBN, SON, and the Fed Min of Solid Minerals and Mines in various ways to develop the sector. Ranging from capacity building, standard setting, domestic and international advocacy, etc.”.

“This is a sector that the Commission has been working strenuously to encourage, both agricultural commodities and mineral commodities among others. This is a market that has a lot of potential for Nigeria.

We are a very good agricultural nation, and we have a lot of resources right now most of them are sold in local markets without any form of standards and because of that a lot of our agricultural produce is rejected in the international market.

“You see smaller countries can export their agricultural products, especially fruits. Our fruits are among the best in the world, but unfortunately, we are not participating in this market because of the issues of standardization,” he said.

According to him, “This is something in the right direction, it is a starting point and I believe that going further shortly this could be something significant. We expect the agricultural sector to grow significantly shortly.

We are also collaborating with the Ministry of Solid Minerals because there is a lot of opportunity in that sector. But right now, there is a lot of artisanal mining, so there needs to be a collaboration between State governments and the Ministry of Mines so that there is a kind of standardization and those mining are licenced by the government and this mining is happening on a sustainable basis”.