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Capital Market: 2013 Appreciable, 2014 Hopeful

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12 years ago

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As 2013 wines up, to make way for the 2014 projections from financial experts in the Nigerian capital market, investors exhibit renewed vigor due to the positive performance of traded equities at the floor of the Exchange this year.

Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) made an appreciable impact in 2013 compared to 2012 as all market indicators rose with definable gains as at Friday, December 27, 2013.

At the close of transactions on the last Friday of the year, investors traded a total of 377.01 millions shares as against 150.58 million shares that opened transactions in January 2013.

The value of shares closed at N2.4 billion as against N1.73 billion which opened the year’s transaction at the floor of the Exchange.

All-share index also closed at 40,231.68 points, compared to 28,078.81 points that opened the year making a gain of 12,152.80 points or 43 per cent. Market capitalisation which opened January at N8.98 trillion gained N3.9 trillion to closed positively at N12.88 trillion as at Friday 27th December, 2013.

In a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr Oscar Onyema, at the capital market stakeholders forum in November, he said.

“We have undertaken major reviews of our market and operations and implemented innovations required to deliver a robust and efficient capital market.

“We have also successfully delivered on key strategic initiatives to create an African institution that competes effectively in the global market place”.

According to the paper titled “Ten Years of Sanitising the Capital Market and Bringing Justice to the Doorstep of the People”, Onyema noted that Nigerian Stock Market ended the first half of the year on a positive note, returning 28.8 per cent gain in overall market performance as the All Share Index(ASI) closed at 36,164.31 points. It is about 80 per cent higher than the previous year’s level.

The index also had crossed the 40,000 points market target before retreating as capitalisation was maximum at N12.84 trillion surpassing the previous year before also retreating later to N11.61 trillion.

Market value was singularly enhanced by the listing of Dangote Cement which accounts for 25 per cent of total market capitalisation.

According to the market analysis, daily transaction in the half year is 475 million shares, compared to 360 million shares, average daily transaction recorded in the entire 2012 period.

In Daily Sun publication of December 30,2013 titled “NSE makes World’s top 10″, the review recorded that it is the appreciable performance of the stock market that placed the country’s capital market among the top 10 performing stock exchanges in the world. This performance was made possible by various factors.

According to the review, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an effort to strengthen the nations capital market, during the third quarter capital market committee meeting in Lagos, set up three committees to develop 10-year master plans to revamp the capital market.

The committees include: capital market master plan, Non Interest capital Market Product Master plan and the capital market literacy master plan.

The terms of reference of the capital market master plan committee was to review the implementation progress of the capital market towards making world class potential a reality and outline milestones yet unachieved.

It was also charged to consider relevant factors that impacted market growth and develop a strategy for robust governance for improved efficiency and enhancement of market stability, among others.

The Director General of SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh on December 19 released a new minimum capital requirement for market operators. The new capital, with deadline pegged on December 2014, expects market operators to recapitalise.

According to SEC release, broker/dealer now requires a minimum capital of N300 million or an increase of 328.57 per cent compared to the initial capital of N70 million.

By the new capitalisation strategy, a broker now requires to increase its capital to N200 million from N40 million as dealers’ minimum capital stands at N100 million as against N30 million.

Issuing house operational capital also increased to N200 million from N150 million, as underwriter now operates with  N200 million as a working capital compared to N100 million.

Punch Online market review showed that investors in 13 companies in the capital market made over 100 per cent gains in 2013. The companies include Presco Plc, Livestock Feeds Plc, Transcorp Plc, Champion Breweries Plc, Jos International Breweries Plc and Union Dicon Salt Plc.

Others are:  Cadbury Nig Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Evans Medical Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Conoil Plc, Forte Oil Plc and Mrs Oil Nigeria Plc.

The stock review showed that Forte Oil Plc returned the highest capital gain of 1,301 per cent. The equity opened the year at about N7 and soared to over N100 last Tuesday on renewed demand by investors.

The oil product firm, according to Punch analysis, attracted high demand from investors who are impressed with its recovery from losses and future potential, positing a growth of 306 per cent in profit after tax for the nine months which ended September 30,2013, rising from N656 million in 2012 to N2. 669 billion.

The Forte Oil performance was attributed to clear focus on business transformation initiative, according to the Chief Executive of the company, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa.

Transcorp Plc followed with 327 per cent gain, while Champion Breweries Plc made 307 per cent gains to square up.

The Exchange also in October announce the commencement of trading on the X-Gen Platform. The rollout of the X-Gen, adjudged as the potentially fastest trading platform, is historic milestone for the capital market community to reinforce the nation’s position as a regional financial centre.

This achievement serves as one of the key target of the Exchange in providing the 21st century technologies to support the growth of the Nigerian capital market.

However, operators and stakeholders in the financial market have raised fresh alarm over the continuous retention of Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent by the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) led by Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, saying that it would affect quoted companies performance and capital market indices.

The Finance and Insurance sub-sector comprises banking insurance pension and stock-broking firms. These firms operate in the various segments of the financial markets such as money market, capital market and the foreign exchange market.

This sector plays prominent role in ensuring an efficient financial intermediation in the economy.

Despite the challenges faced by this sector during the global financial crisis which resulted to the establishment of Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), the financial sector regulatory authorities, “Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has continued to improve and introduced new policies that had gone a long way in bringing financial stability in the sector, as well as ensuring proper financial professionalism, reducing waste and increasing clients confidence.

The financial sector recorded a growth of 3.61 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 as against the 3.57 per cent recorded same period in 2012.

The increased growth of the sector was traceable to increased activities in the sector driven by increased lending activities by banks, as well as continued favourable investment yields in bond market which has favoured key players in the industry, especially pension managers, banks and insurance firms. It has also attracted foreign portfolio investors into the economy.

Before now, the pension funds administration regime was one major channel through which public funds running into hundreds of billions of naira are misappropriated by corrupt officials, through embezzlement, falsification of records, ghost pensioners and denial of pensioners their due entitlement.

The Presidential Pension Reform Task Team Investigation and work resulted in the deletion of over 73,000 ghost pensioners stoppage of a monthly theft of over N4 billion from the national treasury, saving of a monthly sum of over N1 billion from police monthly pension releases.

On internally generated revenue a new accounting model known as the International Financial Reporting System (IFRS) has become operational in Nigeria with its attendant tax implications.

The federal Inland  Revenue Service, CITN, ANAN ad ICAN, among other entities organised series of workshops, seminars and mandatory training programme to enlighten accountants on the new concept in order to ensure that Nigeria is not left out in global accounting best practices.

Although appreciable achievements have been made in the capital financial markets in 2013, more need to be done on the depth of the capital market, in order to totally restore investors’ confidence.

Hamonised taxation system across all the three tiers of government should also be looked into which will enable small and medium enterprises increase their profit margin and move towards listing on the floor of the Exchange in 2014.

For Nigerian investors, 2013 was a good year at the capital market and there is also a renewed vigour and positional in 2014 when NSE and SEC will role out more implementations to exceed the World’s top 10 position it has achieved in 2013.

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Boat Mishap Kills Pastor, Wife And Church Members  In Brass Water

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1 week ago

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May 18, 2026

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A boat accident in Bayelsa state has killed a serving Pastor, Wife and other church members along Brass waterways
The sad incident happened at Odioama in Brass local government area of Bayelsa State when the Pastor, wife and  members of his church were in a programme.
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?Tide confirmed that the lifeless body of the Pastor’s wife has been found and deposited in a mortuary while the remains of her husband ,the Pastor is yet  to be recovered
as search party are still ongoing.
Although the real cause of the boat Mishap is not yet known as at the time of this report,  our Correspondent gathered  that the identities of the Pastor, wife and church members were not disclosed to the public.
The mishap, Tide gathered occurred on Friday morning when the church members were on a boat transit
The Bayelsa State government and the state police command are yet to issue official statement’s  on the sad accident
By: CHINEDU WOSU
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Rivers Workers Seek Scrapping Of Contributory Pension Scheme

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1 week ago

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May 18, 2026

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The Rivers State Council of  Nigeria Civil Service Union has called on the State Government to urgently scrap the contributory pension scheme, describing it as unfavourable to long-serving civil servants in the state.
Chairman of the union, Chukwuka Osuma, said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt,  recently.
Osuma said the current pension structure has continued to worsen post-retirement hardship for workers.
He noted that  the contributory pension scheme had failed to provide adequate retirement security for workers who had spent many years in service, especially those approaching retirement age.
According to him, civil servants who had served for more than 20 years were among the worst affected under the scheme, insisting that many retirees could no longer cope with prevailing economic realities.
He also  informed that the Union has made moves to showcase their concerns, pleading with Governor Siminalayi Fubara to abolish the pension policy and introduce a more favourable arrangement for affected workers.
“The union was not opposed to pension reforms, the contributory scheme should only apply to newly employed workers or those with fewer years in service”, he said.
Osuma explained that workers who had already spent decades in the civil service ought to remain under a more secure pension structure capable of guaranteeing stability after retirement.
The labour leader further noted that inflation and the rising cost of living had continued to erode the value of retirement savings, thereby increasing the suffering of pensioners across the country.
He also appealed to the state government to consider extending the years of service in the civil service from 35 to 40 years and the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.
Osuma argued that such adjustment had become necessary in view of present-day economic realities and changing conditions in the workplace.
The unionist also reviewed that similar policies had already been adopted in some sectors and jurisdictions, expressing optimism that the State could also implement the reforms for the benefit of workers.
He however, commended Governor Fubara for approving an N85,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, noting that the amount was above the national benchmark of N70,000.
Osuma also acknowledged the government’s efforts in the area of workers’ promotions and bonuses, but insisted that pension reforms and extension of years of service remained critical to the long-term welfare and stability of civil servants in Rivers State.
By: King Onunwor
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FG Begins South-West Tour To Promote New Cooperative Bank

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2 weeks ago

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May 13, 2026

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The Federal Government has launched the South-West zonal engagement and ministerial advocacy tour on the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria share capital mobilisation, sensitisation and cooperative sector digitalisation.
 Reports say the initiative was launched through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
According to reports, the advocacy tour, organised by the ministry’s Federal Department of Cooperatives, began on Monday in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative was part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Abdullahi described the exercise as a strategic effort to reposition the cooperative sector as a key driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity.
“Today represents a defining moment in our collective determination to reposition the cooperative sector as a major driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity,” he said.
The minister noted  the modern cooperative movement in Nigeria originated in the South-West following the 1934 Strickland Report, which led to the enactment of the Cooperative Societies Ordinance of 1935.
According to him, the decision to commence the sensitisation and share capital mobilisation tour in the region is symbolic, as it marks a return to the roots of cooperative development in the country.
Abdullahi said the advocacy tour was a direct outcome of resolutions reached at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs held in Abuja in March 2026.
He said the council approved the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen the cooperative sector and align it with the administration’s goal of building a one-trillion-dollar economy.
“The reform programme focuses on seven strategic pillars, including governance reforms, cooperative financing and the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, digitalisation, capacity building, value chain development, inclusion of youths, women and persons with disabilities, and strategic partnerships,” he said.
He said the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria and the digitalisation of the cooperative sector were the two major transformational initiatives under the programme.
“The Cooperative Bank of Nigeria is aimed at rebuilding a strong cooperative financial system capable of supporting cooperators, farmers, artisans, traders, SMEs, youths, women and persons with disabilities with accessible and affordable financial services,” he said.
Abdullahi emphasised that the proposed bank would be government-enabled but not government-funded.
“Government is not establishing the bank as an owner, nor will it rely on Treasury Single Account funds.
“The role of government through the FMAFS is to provide policy support, stakeholder coordination, regulatory facilitation and an enabling environment under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme,” he said.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to cooperative sector transformation.
She described cooperatives as critical tools for promoting inclusive growth, grassroots productivity, food security, financial inclusion and community wealth creation.
Ambrose-Medebem said Lagos State would continue to support reforms and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (2025–2030).
“Together, let us build a cooperative ecosystem that is modern, transparent, digitally enabled, financially inclusive and globally competitive.
“Let us build cooperatives that not only mobilise savings, but also mobilise prosperity,” she said.
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