The "Walls of Jericho are falling flat!" Foreign investors depart Nigeria in DROVES. Withdrew N40.07bn from stock market in Sept

The "Walls of Jericho is falling" Foreign investors withdrew N40.07bn from stock market in Sept

General Muhammadu Buhari's confused and lackadaisical government has panicked foreign investors out of Nigeria. His incompetence, which led to his not being able to constitute a cabinet for almost 6 months he came to power has immensely contributed in scaring away investors.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, said that foreign investors withdrew the sum of N40.07 billion from the equities market in the month of September. This is contained in a domestic and foreign portfolio participation in equity trading for September 2015 posted on NSE web site, yesterday. The report stated that total foreign outflow for September stood at N40.07 billion, compared to N48.07 billion recorded in August.

This is coming on the news that The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has recorded a loss of N171.78 billion in the last three months. In July, the corporation lost N51.71; in August, N60.67 billion; and N59.40 billion in September. Other news of woes besieging Nigeria is the report today that J.P Morgan Chase and Co has finally phase-out of Nigerian bonds from the JP Morgan index.

The exchange stated that total foreign in-flow during the review period stood at N29.26 billion as against N33.06 billion in August. It added that foreign portfolio investment transactions at the nation’s bourse in September reduced to N69.33 billion from N81.13 billion in August, recording a decrease of 14.54 per cent.

According to the report, total domestic transactions stood at N60.59 billion in contrast with N64.56 billion in August. It added that total transactions in September dropped to N129.92 billion as against N145.69 billion achieved in the preceding month.

The statistics showed that foreign investors’ in-flows accounted for 22.52 per cent of total transactions. It stated that foreign investors’ out-flows accounted for 30.84 per cent of the total transactions in September.

Commenting on the issue, Mr. Okechukwu Unegbu, the former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that the exchange must map out strategies aimed at sustaining local investors’ confidence in the market.

Unegbu said that market regulators must reduce their emphasis on foreign investors and concentrate on local investors who invest for long-term purpose.

He said that uncertainties in the economy made it imperative for NSE to look inwards, noting that foreign investors could exit at the market at any given time.