TheCable

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning, inaugurated the national savings strategy working group in Abuja at the weekend with a mandate of developing easy instruments that are safe and attractive to Nigerians.

Speaking at the inauguration, Ahmed said there is a need to mobilise local savings to stimulate the economy.

The terms of reference of the group include studying the national savings strategy paper and advising the federal government on the feasibility of the proposals or with recommended changes, provide recommendations on ways and means of mobilizing and channelling corporate and individual savings to accelerate domestic capital formation to support entrepreneurs and enterprise development in the urgent task of diversifying the economy and the deepening of the capital market.

The group is also expected to draft a national working paper that outlines a roadmap on the implementation of the national savings scheme to be submitted for approval by the federal executive council.

“The capital market masterplan proposed the NSS as one of the key initiatives to drive capital formation and investment necessary to support entrepreneurs and enterprise development in the urgent task of diversifying the economy and deepening of the capital market,” she said.

“To lift the equity markets, galvanise new start-ups and expand existing projects, there should be a deliberate provision of naira-based risk capital.

“Let us not forget the average Nigerian that wants to save and does not have huge sums, we need to develop easy instruments that are safe to be able to attract them.

“Look at creating retail savings scheme to allow these Nigerians to save quickly by being able to enter and exit without unnecessary rigours. We need to mobilise local savings to reflate the economy, increase productivity by creating new enterprises and ensure that existing ones also thrive.

“In essence, nurturing, growing and channelling domestic savings to fund the creation of new enterprises will result in rapid economic growth, diversification of the economy, accelerated job creation and increased productivity and output of the Nigerian economy.

“My expectation when the review is concluded is that we would have a strategic document that provides a clear pathway that would enable Nigeria’s capital market achieve the goal to be Africa’s deepest, most liquid and largest capital market contributing not only to Nigeria’s socio-economic development but also serve as a global financial hub offering opportunities to other parts of Africa.”

In her remarks, Mary Uduk, acting director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said the 10-year capital market masterplan was launched in 2015 to transform the Nigerian market, facilitate the diversification of the economy, encourage savings and create wealth.