The Securities and Exchange Commission has encouraged Nigerian youths to avail themselves of the investment opportunities in the capital market.
The acting Director-General, SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, who stated this, said there were various products and funds available in the market that would appeal to the youth populace in Nigeria.
She encouraged them to take advantages of the opportunities and invest wisely.
Uduk said, “We have mutual funds and it covers every asset in the capital market whether it is money market, insurance, capital market, and real estate or infrastructure, among others.
“The youths can invest in these; rather than leave your money in savings account, you can invest in mutual funds.
“It runs like savings account and after three months, you can withdraw your money the same way as you do with the banks. Youths don’t have to go and gamble as there are so many products in the capital market that they can invest in.”
She said the commission had commenced investor education and enlightenment for Nigerians to understand the benefits of mutual funds, which she said gave more interest than saving money in bank accounts.
Uduk also urged those that had already invested in the market to register to claim their dividends electronically as a means of reducing the unclaimed dividends profile.
She said, “For every account that is mandated, all accrued dividends are automatically paid. Then there is the use of regularisation of multiple accounts. We discovered that while dividend was growing and increasing the pace is not as satisfactory as when we observe that multiple accounts, which have not been claimed for many years, are still being paid dividends.
“Those people that have multiple accounts can only lay claim on dividends in one account; all the others will keep warehousing dividends as long as they are not regularised.
“We, therefore, urge all those with multiple accounts to regularise such accounts so that they can also claim their dividends”.