Yemisi Izuora
Mr Boniface Okezie chairman of Progressive Shareholders Association has said that the demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is not the solution to the downward trend witnessed in the capital market.
He declared that Demutualisation will not bring solution to the NSE, adding ‘It is not what we want but if it becomes inevitable, they should revisit the plan drawn up by the former NSE boss, Ndi Okereke Onyiuke and they must follow due process.”
Demutualisation of a stock exchange refers to the process by which a member-owned exchange is reorganised as a shareholder-owned exchange, thereby switching from private to public ownership.
He said: “Demutualisation can take any time from 18 months to five years to accomplish especially when you want to put some thing in place like make a new law but a lot of work is going on in that regard and we would see an accelerated rate of progress this year.”
Okezie however stressed the need for the Exchange to follow due process and ensure that every Nigerian in the country and in the diaspora benefits from it by giving them the opportunity of owning stakes in the Exchange.
He further advised the NSE to dwell more on increased transparency on the NSE, investor protection, among other values.