The Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ Holdings PLC (“FMDQ Group” or “FMDQ”), Mr. Bola Onadele. Koko, along with a few members of Management, made a courtesy call on the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON, at the Presidential Villa, State House, Abuja, on Monday September 20, 2021. Among the delegates in the Vice President’s entourage were the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Office of the Vice President, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, and the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Office of Vice President, Mr. Ade Ipaye, as well as other Special Advisers to the President. The focal point of the visit was discussion on how the Nigerian financial markets could be leveraged for the nation’s transformation.

Mr. Onadele, during his presentation, expressed his immense appreciation of the Vice President’s active and impactful contributions towards the development of the nation’s financial markets. In particular, Mr. Onadele underscored the passing of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, set to spur economic and a new wave of innovative developments, improve the ease of doing business, stimulate increased economic activity, thereby creating employment, generating additional wealth, and increasing tax revenue for the government, and introduce a new paradigm in the financial markets whilst repositioning Nigeria as a compelling destination for capital. He also highlighted the launch of the Financial Centre for Sustainability, Lagos Fintech Hackathon in March 2021, wherein the Vice President urged participants to develop creative solutions for sustainable farming and cleaner energy, as well as the passing of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, critical to enable the oil and gas sector access debt and equity capital. All of these and more, including the Vice President’s exemplary leadership of various committees aimed at developing the Nigerian economy for prosperity for Nigerians, including, but not limited to the National Economic Council, Economic Sustainability Committee, the Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, giving credence to his unwavering commitment and efforts towards the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.

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Mr. Onadele reiterated during the meeting, FMDQ’s commitment to performing its strategic roles as a market organiser, catalyst for capital formation, adviser to governments and regulators and financial markets diplomat, to support the development and implementation of innovative solutions towards attracting capital to boost productivity in Nigeria, reduce unemployment, bridge the infrastructure gap, and support Nigeria’s achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. He also asserted that one of the top priorities for FMDQ was to support the development of commerce in Nigeria, postulating that commerce was the life blood of every nation, and that thriving and liquid money, capital and foreign exchange markets were sine qua non in the development of Nigeria’s trade, industry, and commerce. He indicated that FMDQ demonstrated its agenda in this respect through the establishment of the FMDQ Private Markets, to promote the inclusion of private companies in the capital markets, and provide access to long-term private capital to small, medium, and large enterprises. Additionally, Mr. Onadele highlighted tax incentive and tax-related initiatives which would further bolster activity in the financial markets and solicited the Vice President’s continuous support of the financial markets development agenda.

Professor Osinbajo commended FMDQ Group on the laudable achievements and developments made in the Nigerian financial markets and beyond since its establishment and reassured FMDQ that he was willing and excited to support FMDQ in championing the realisation of Nigeria’s full potential. He also urged the Management of FMDQ Group to further explore ways to de-risk the Nigerian financial markets and the housing finance sector.

About FMDQ Group

FMDQ Group is Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group, strategically positioned to provide registration, listing, quotation and noting services; integrated trading, clearing & central counterparty, settlement, and risk management for financial market transactions; depository of securities, as well as data and information services, across the debt capital, foreign exchange, derivatives and equity markets, through its wholly owned subsidiaries – FMDQ Exchange, FMDQ Clear Limited, FMDQ Depository Limited and FMDQ Private Markets Limited.