Vibrant commodities exchange will aid economic development says SEC

Mary Uduk, acting Director-General, SEC

An organized Commodities Exchange Market  would catalyze economic growth and development, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said.

The Ag. Director General of the SEC Ms. Mary Uduk stated this when she received members of the Commodities Trading Ecosystem Implementation Committee in her office in Abuja recently.

Uduk said the Commodities market is an integral part of the economy whose potentials have not yet be fully harnessed for the country to enjoy the benefits therein.

She further stated that there is a lot of benefits in promoting commodity exchanges and the ecosystem in general as they provide a transparent pricing mechanism, promote the attractiveness of agribusiness, foster financial inclusion and improve quality of agricultural output and profitability as well as government revenue. It also enhances the wellbeing of the farming communities and helps reduce rural-urban drift.

The Commodities Trading Ecosystem Implementation Committee has NEXIM, NIRSAL, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NCX, FSS2020, CIS, FMDQ and AFEX as members that have been mandated to implement recommendations of the report of the Technical Committee on Commodities Trading Ecosystem.

Ms. Daisy Ekineh who led the team gave an update of the Committee’s activities to the SEC team.

Ekineh commended the SEC on its efforts towards ensuring a vibrant Commodities Ecosystem in Nigeria.

The Committee developed a roadmap for educating and enlightening all stakeholders to enable them to understand the responsibility of each stakeholder and is planning an International Stakeholders conference chaired by NIRSAL with people from all over the world scheduled to attend.