Experts urge NSE to improve awareness on investor participation

Some capital market experts on Tuesday advised the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to improve its awareness campaigns to increase retail investors’ participation in the market.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the experts said there was still the need to embark on more enlightenment campaigns to educate the investing public about likely gains from the capital market.
Mr Chineyem Anyanwu, the Managing Partner in Dependable Securities Ltd., said that many Nigerians still did not know much about the capital market, how it operated or how to get involved.
Anyanwu said there were some individuals who could have invested in the market, but had not done so due to ignorance of how to get involved.
According to him, building and strengthening the investor confidence are the major ways through which more investors can be brought back to the market.
“I believe that when people have clear knowledge and understanding of how the market operates and the benefits accruable from it, they will be motivated to participate,’’ he said.
Mr Sunny Nwosu, the National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), identified the 10 per cent withholding tax on dividends as a factor discouraging some investors from participating in the market.
Nwosu suggested that if the government could review the tax rate to reduce it to minimal level, it would also go a long way in bringing more retail investors into the market.
“To draw more retail investors to the market, the government can decide to grant tax holiday to investors for a specific period of time,’’ he said.
Nwosu also suggested that the Federal Government should pump more money into the capital market.
He said that availability of funds in the market would enhance performance of the market, increase the market capital base and eventually add to the number of investors.
“When investors see that the market is growing, such that more investment opportunities are available and returns on investment are on the positive side, they will be attracted to invest in the market,’’ Nwosu said.