ISB Game Changer for Commodities Ecosystem- Akeredolu-Ale

The Investments and Securities Bill has been described as a game changer that is capable of enabling the commodity trading ecosystem to thrive, thereby diversifying the nation’s economy and providing foreign exchange.

This was stated by the Managing Director of LFCE, Mr. Akin Akeredolu- Ale, while commenting on ISB, which was recently passed by the House of Representatives.

He stated that Nigeria was a commodity country as a better part of the GDP by way of production comes from the commodity ecosystem and urged that Senate to ensure swift concurrence on the Bill.

“We need that concurrence by the Senate as quickly as possible. I am very happy that the NASS has taken it upon themselves as well as the SEC to push this bill.

“That bill is a game changer for the Commodities Ecosystem, and also a game changer for Nigeria as a commodities country. For now, a lot of commodities being traded is still in the informal sector, the bill would create structure and all the leakages from taxation and revenue will be Firsttaken care of by this bill. “The major things about the commodities ecosystem is the fact that we are looking inwards in Nigeria now.

What do these foreign investors look out for? The foreign investors look at regulatory framework, legal framework and a proper enabling environment to want to participate in the market,” he noted.

He disclosed that in a bid to further deepen the Commodities Trading Ecosystem in Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved 13 products for trading on the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange.

Akeredolu-Ale stated that the Exchange had capacity to trade electronic receipts of oil and gas, agriculture, solid minerals, derivatives and currencies adding that the Exchange has also put in place necessary infrastructure to trade in derivatives as hedging instruments for investors. According to him, “on July 12, 2022, we launched the Gold Coin.

The good thing about the Gold coin is that the gold that was used in its preparation was sourced from Nigeria and a lot of it came from Ilesha. It is being traded and people have realised that this is a very good hedging instrument, this just goes to show the capacity of what we can do in Nigeria if this Bill is passed.

January 19, 2023