The chief executive officer of Smadac Securities, Mr Adams Yakubu, has called for a total revamp of the investment policy in the country to encourage more companies to come to the market.

This call was made at the Business Thought Leadership Session organised by the Quadrant Company/Fleishman Hilland International Communication, tagged Re-invigorating Investment Confidence in Nigeria.

According to Yakubu, attempts must be made at minimising shocks and deepening capital markets in West Africa for more market viability. To this effect, he noted that certain actions must be taken and these include: “Review of the relevant investment laws to address the flaws and abuses identified in the market; deliberate government policies such as tax breaks to encourage listing and vigorous pursuit of the privatisation exercise. REITs, FGN and corporate bonds, and other exchange traded instrument should be encouraged to deepen the market”.

The CEO added that continuous collaboration and integration of the regional markets, capacity building by the regulatory agencies, and downward review of fees should also be encouraged.

Mr Yakubu said regulatory authorities like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) should have done more to correct what happened in the capital market, which, according to him, is a learning process; He stated that for the first time, Nigerians have a real taste of globalisation and what it could do.

On the way forward, the market operator pointed out the need to create an enabling environment which will at tract foreign investors into the country.

He noted the need for legislators to make laws that will restore confidence in foreign investors and put in place infrastructures that will attract them to invest more, failure of which they will look elsewhere. He buttressed his argument with what is currently happening in the country whereby companies are relocating to other countries like Ghana and South Africa because of the epileptic nature of electricity in Nigeria.

The annual Business though Leadership session, which is in its second edition, was attend by captains of industry, including the chairman of the Troyka Group, Mr Biodun Shobanjo; country commercial manager British Airways, Adrain Mcdloy; head of corporate and Regulatory Affairs, British Airways, Tunyi Seymour; Dr Mike Okolo of Lagos Business school, and representatives of banks and other financial institutions.