The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC has stated that the Federal and State Governments have the capabilities to unlock enormous potentials through privatisation.
Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda stated this on Tuesday at a Webinar organised by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) with the theme: Privatisation in Nigeria and the Outlook for Subnational Economic Development.
Represented by Mr. Reginald Karawusa Executive Commissioner Legal and Enforcement, Yuguda said the theme speaks to one of the issues that is germane to financing for state governments.
He said there is indeed no better time to discuss alternative funding sources at the sub national level given adverse impacts brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, the capital market’s primary role in any economy is to facilitate capital formation. By creating a system for allocation of capital, investors are able to price risk efficiently while issuers have the opportunity to raise funds to finance projects.
In doing so, issuers may choose to raise equities or debts.
“Sub national issuers in Nigeria have been able to access the debt capital market over the years since 1978, state governments in Nigeria have raised close to N900bn through debt issuances.
A significant part of these funds were deployed to finance capital projects across the country.
