Yemisi Izuora
The Republic of Korea has promised to effectively support Nigeria in its push to to attain its economic development goals.
Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Intae Lee stated this in a goodwill message at the official opening of a Seminar on the Operations and Regulations on Derivatives Market in Nigeria under the Knowledge Sharing Programme, KSP held at the Head office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC in Abuja Wednesday.
The KSP which is on “Capacity Building on Operation and Regulation of Financial Derivatives Markets in Nigeria”, is based on the following topic areas: Development of Nigerian Derivatives Market, Operation, Surveillance, and Supervision on the Derivatives Market, Monitoring and Surveillance on Derivatives Market of Nigeria and Establishment of ICT infrastructure for Fiancial Derivatives Market.
The Ambassador said the ceremony envisages the bright future that the two great nations will continue to build together, particularly in the area of economic and developmental cooperation. With that vision in mind, he said Korea has abundant developmental knowledge and experiences to share with Nigeria.
According to Intae, “The Knowledge Sharing Programme represents what Korea has to offer the world. Once a poverty-stricken-country, the Korean people have built one of the most thriving market economies. Korea now also boasts the 11th largest economic growth country in the world.
Through the KSP, Korea is going to share with Nigeria the recipes for the success of our derivatives market. Through this program, I sincerely hope Nigeria to become the financial hub of the entire African continent, not just of the West Africa. Through the KSP, Korea is now offering the secrets behind our success to Nigeria so as to walk together the paths toward greater prosperity, affluence, and success.
He expressed confidence that the launching of the first KSP project will serve as a corner stone for the bolstered economic cooperation between the two countries in the future.
In her remarks, Acting Director General of SEC, Mary Uduk, expressed appreciation to the government of the Republic of Korea on the programme, saying it will assist greatly in developing the derivatives market in Nigeria.
Uduk said the country will not have a viable derivatives market without building the capacity of the regulator and other stakeholders, adding that the KSP will provide an opportunity to further develop the capital market in Nigeria.
The Acting DG also disclosed that the Commission will welcome any collaboration with the Republic of Korea to drive to digitalize operations in the Commission and the market.
‘The entire capital market is embracing financial technology and here at the SEC we are working on automating our processes to improve our regulatory work and we are open to collaborations to make this happen”. She added.