The director general of the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, said the days where financial transactions and deals were carried out only by financial expatriates while lawyers and solicitors were relegated to the background, were gone.
Agama urged lawyers to take their place in the capital market.
He made this remark in his keynote address at the annual business summit of the Capital Market Association, which was held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, June 6th, 2024.
Speaking on the theme ‘’Revolutionizing the Nigerian Capital Market Through Innovative Financial Instruments for Sustainable Development,’’ Dr. Agama called for unity among industry players, as sustainable development could not be achieved within the fast-developing financial sector if stakeholders did not work together.
He further stated that the federal government was doing a lot on its side to change, improve, and promote the nation’s business environment and that evolving new trends aimed at revolutionizing the capital market were always welcome, while global best practices in the capital market would always be upheld
Managing Director of One17 Capital, Mallam Attahiru Maccido, said that solicitors were important in all forms of business contracts including non-interest financial transactions.
He said that all the products of non-interest banking and financial transactions were legal documents in as much as they were seen to uphold religious tenets.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ekpo, a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria, called for a legal balance in policy and the drive for profit so as not to run into troubled waters.
She called for a level play field where investors interested in various fields of the economy, solicitors, stockbrokers, and other players in the financial sector could meet to cross-pollinate ideas.
In his welcome speech, the chairman of the Capital Market Solicitors Association, Vincent Iweze, stated that given the new development within the sector, there was a need for players in the financial sector to work together, identify and come up with solutions and innovations that will move the capital market to the next level.
There were goodwill messages from Senator Osita Izunaso, Chairman, the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN,
Chairman Board of Trustees of CMSA, as well as many other personalities.