Nigerian capital market has been described as a key catalyst for the development of the critical sectors of the economy as it poses a credible platform of obtaining medium to long term finance.
Thus was stated by Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed during a Webinar organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development with the theme, “Financing the Solid Minerals Sector through the Capital Market and the Critical Role of Commodity Exchanges” on Thursday.
Ahmed said the facilitation of funding and provision of structured market platforms such as the commodities exchanges portends significant addition for the mining and solid minerals sector, saying that the the event and its theme are very relevant to the economy given the need to diversify and grow the economy and to enable the nation achieve sustainable development in the post covid-19 pandemic.
According to her, “Given the economic challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to achieve economic diversification has been affected by a decline in revenue, underlined by volatility in global oil prices which is our main source of foreign exchange earnings.
In a welcome address, Director General of SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda said with over 44 minerals found across the federation, the solid minerals sector can be significantly instrumental in the on-going quest to diversify the economy from its heavy reliance on crude oil.