Sen. Kashim Shettima, the vice president, has assigned the West African capital markets to focus on digital products in an effort to reduce young people's attraction to Ponzi schemes.Shettima stated this during the third West Africa Capital Market Conference (WACMaC) opening ceremony, which was held in Lagos on Wednesday and had as its theme "Infrastructural Deficit and Sustainable Financing in an Integrated West African Capital Market."
Dr. Tope Fasua, Special Advisor to the President on Economic Affairs in the Office of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, represented Shettima at the function.
In order to meet young West Africans online through digital investment products, the vice president requested the West African capital markets to discuss the matter.
Shettima asked market participants to address the issue, lamenting the rise in cryptocurrency and other mysterious instruments and exchanges in West Africa that typically end tragically.
I implore you to discuss in your meetings how to address the problems as they currently exist. Online, meet youthful West Africans. Make apps that resonate with them.
When it's required, use blockchain technology to demonstrate transparency and grant them part of the desired control.
Demonstrate them the importance of value, solidity, history, structure, resilience, and sustainability so they won't invest in reckless endeavors where they watch their money go every day.
Through your efforts, they will invest in the businesses and assets that will ensure West Africa's sustainable future, and they will discover the joys of capital market investing.
"Let me emphasize that this is merely the beginning. Not all of the tales concerning the rise of cryptocurrencies and other mysterious instruments and trades in West Africa have pleasant endings.
"We have to realize that even while investable assets are declining globally due to the economic crisis, such monies still exist and will only be accessible to the truly innovative.
"Today's world demands creativity, innovation, foresight, thinking ahead and quickly, originality, diversification of product offerings, ongoing education, and public engagement across all platforms, online and off," Shettima stated.
"We have to do everything that is legally necessary to build a strong foundation for our capital market in order to filter out dishonest players who enter the market and devise means of misleading people about their registration and connections to capital market regulators in order to perpetrate frauds against them," he continued. I am aware that the SEC has been looking for several of these individuals.
Additionally, he stated that internal rather than solely external borrowing would be a preferable way to address the subregion's infrastructure gap in West Africa.
Shettima stated that in order to close the infrastructure gap in Nigeria and the rest of the region, the capital market needs to be effectively utilized.
He asserts that it is impossible to overstate the importance of the capital market to Nigeria's economic trajectory, particularly with regard to the advancement of the corporate sector, industries, and most crucially, infrastructure development.
In an era of fierce competition for resources, he stated: "Nations are able to reach out to other nations with their products, just as businesses have their fingers in billions of pockets worldwide.
More than ever, innovation may be a powerful benefit or a drawback, depending on how willing a person is to participate.
It is true that creating the future is the best way to get ready for it. On this, where are we at?
However, creating a capital market is a difficult undertaking in any country, let alone maintaining and growing one.
"We must recognize the contributions made throughout time by organizations, governments, businesses, and individuals throughout West Africa that have united to make the change that has brought us to this point.
In the subregion, there are now three exchanges: Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire; additional exchanges are planned. Why haven't other West African countries expanded their exchanges, is the query.
"How do they intend to take advantage of the advantages of corporate governance and capital formation, as well as to get companies funded in them to eventually play big on the global stage?"
As a result, he challenged operators and regulators in West Africa to exercise extreme caution in order to discover sustainability, growth, and liquidity in their markets.
"There is no reason why West African stock exchanges should not prosper if stock exchanges in industrialized nations such as New York, London, Amsterdam, Bombay, and Egypt continue to flourish.
"These entities must still be thriving for reasons, and those reasons are the underlying underpinnings that need to be investigated in order to uncover strength, resilience, purpose, and sustainability.
"My job is to support you in your work and, by using these words, to give you a little more energy, direction, strength, and clarity since your work never ends. Furthermore, he continued, "I am happy to see the cooperation that has been going on among you. The capital market in West Africa should never end."
The Chairman of the West Africa Securities Regulators Association (WASRA) and Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, said in his opening remarks that WACMaC was designed as a forum to discuss important issues pertaining to the expansion and development of continental and regional capital markets.