The Debt Management Office and the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Monday restated the commitment to work together to deepen retail investors participation in Federal Government bonds.
Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, the DMO Director-General, made the disclosure during a courtesy visit to the Exchange and sounding the closing gong at the NSE in Lagos.
Nwankwo said there had been efforts since 2012 to ensure that the Federal Government bonds were democratised for retail investors to participate.
He said the organisation appointed Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers to assist in the democratisation of the initiative to ensure that its services were not only for the upper class.
He said: “We wanted Stabic IBTC to assist us in making sure that every retail investor with little money can also participate in the investment thereon.
“The NSE is not an elitist platform for only those who are millionaires and billionaires, but also for those with little money like N10,000 to invest in the government bond and have it listed on the NSE.”
Nwankwo said the move had yielded some positive results, noting that the visit to the NSE was part of continue engagement in ensuring that more retail investors invest and trade in the bonds.
“The job is to encourage retail investors to buy Federal Government bonds and have their bonds traded on the NSE just as big investors,” the DMO director-general said.
Nwankwo said the DMO would work with other institutions, both in public and private sectors, to strategise and produce maximum results for the nation’s economy.
On the impact of the recent restructuring of states banks loans into Federal Government bonds, Nwankwo said it had led to drop in the deduction for debt services.
He said: “For some states, the drop in debt services deduction was by as high as 95 per cent.
“This means it has given some breathing space to be able to meet other obligations, particularly the payment of workers’ salaries.”
He said emphasis of government in the next couple of years would be on economic diversification to create more jobs.
Nwankwo said: “Onus is on all Nigerians, individuals, institutions, public sector and private sector to make their contributions to aid the government to quickly diversify the economy for inclusive growth.”
NAN.
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