Yemisi Izuora
The Director Market Development Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mr. Nestor Ikeagu, has challenged young people on the need to plan their future by engaging in savings and investments from an early age.
He made the call during the commemoration of the Global Money week by the Commission in Abuja Thursday.
Ikeagu stated that the Commission is on a drive to educate and enlighten the youths on money management as well as encourage them on investments opportunities available in the capital market.
“We are proud to be part of this annual financial awareness campaign highlighting the importance of teaching children & youth about financial education & financial literacy. These sensitisations to Gwagwalada and Nassarawa is aimed to directly speak to the children and youths and highlight how important this is to the SEC.” he stated.
“For today, we have reached out to students in secondary schools with the message on what they can do at this early stage to groom them to better manage their money and also explore avenues of investing. We will continue reaching out to them and mentor them on how to plant their future”.
In her remarks, Divisional Head Financial Inclusion Division of the SEC, Mrs Sa’adatu Faruk stated that the theme this year is on planning and investment, as savings that leads to investment is what brings wealth.
“I enjoin investors to plan more, save more and be able to do much more investments, this will help to ensure a better life for them in the future”.
At Government Day Secondary School, Karu, Abuja, Senior Manager Market Development Department Mr. Musa Dakup told the students to be financially prudent and prioritise their spending.
“You should not always spend; you need to plan to do meaningful investments with the money you get. You need to have the culture of savings and investments so that you can plan for your future. Don’t waste money, invest your money. Plan for your future and that is why we are here today to enlighten you. The SEC is available to educate and enlighten you to assist you in making sound financial decisions” He stated.
Dakup enjoined the students to check very well before investing to avoid patronising illegal fund managers.
“Be careful of investments that promise you unreasonably high returns, they never end well. Before long they close down and vanish with investors funds”.
“The list of registered fund managers can be found on our website www.sec.gov.ng. Any company that is not listed there do not do any business with them”.
Global Money Week (GMW) promotes efforts aimed at improving the financial literacy of young people. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to ensure that all children and young people have access to high-quality financial education, they learn about money matters and are able to take smart financial decisions that can improve their future financial resilience and financial well-being.
The week is the world’s largest money awareness campaign for children and youths to learn about money managing skills through fun events and activities in over 100 countries worldwide adding that the earlier children & youth learn about money, saving, investment and budgeting the better they will manage their personal finances throughout their lives.