NSE commits to partnership with NBA-SBL
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema has reiterated the commitment of the Exchange to support the activities of the Nigerian Bar Association through its Section on Business Law.
Speaking during a courtesy visit of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Onyema disclosed that issues of the law are taken quite serious with a view to mitigating risks as much as possible.
“As you know, we also do have an existing relation with the NBA as a body and also with the your Section, the Section on Business Law). We currently have an ongoing programme known as the Knowledge Impact Series and the goal is to bridge the knowledge gap in the Sector and further enhance services within the capital market.
The visit to the Exchange was part the Section’s awareness drive towards the 11th annual business law Conference, and it was a rare honour when the Management of the Exchange, led by the CEO, Oscar Onyema invited representatives of the NBA-SBL Council and the 2017 Conference Planning Committee (CPC) to the floor to ring the Closing Bell/Gong.
Speaking to BusinessDay Correspondent about the significance of the occasion, the Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Olumide Akpata said,
“While this occasion is our first, to the extent that we appeared on the floor of the exchange and actually got to ring the closing gong but it is not the first relationship we have with the Stock Exchange.
“We have had long and profitable relationship with the stock exchange. Both organisations have been working to ensure that quality legal service is being provided for the market.
He reaffirmed that the SBL Council alongside the conference planning committee was at the NSE to update the management of the Exchange about its upcoming conference.
“It is the 11th annual business law conference of the Nigeria Bar Association Section of Business Law which will start on the 18th through to the 20th of June; at the Eko Hotel in Lagos. We came here to tell them about it and to ensure they plan to attend. “We are quite sure they will be there, because we have the General Counsel of the stock exchange as on of our keynote speakers at the conference,” the SBL Chair said.
“We also have a capital market committee at our own council of the Business Law Section. Through our capital market committee, we have always collaborated with Stock Exchange Resource persons to help talk to our lawyers understand better the workings of the market. we can only serve the market effectively if we understand how the market runs. They give us technical assistance in terms of helping people understand what the market is about and we in turn help with regards legal trainings on the same subject matter but from the legal point of view.
Also speaking after the event, the Chair of the 2017 Conference Planning Committee, Ms Olubunmi Fayokun about the significance of the closing Gong ceremony of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law.
“We are an integral part of the business market in Nigeria. One of the key things that we do is to build capacity within business environment. We decided to come here to show our support for the Nigerian Stock Exchange in terms the collaboration and look at possible ways in which we can collaborate in the future to develop the capital market and enhance capital market law practice.”
She stated that the relevance of the partnership was capacity building and innovation. Our section has 18 committees and one of which is the capital market committee. Since this is one of the integral institutions within the capital market, we will continue to collaborate in various ways to enhance and build capacity within the capital market.
Fayokun hinted that the collaboration with the NSE was an ongoing one and the visit/ringing of the gong was to further boost the relationship and form stronger ties in an existing relationship.
She said, “By way of this partnership, there have been a number of training programmes which have been organised by Stock Exchange. We assist in training them and they also assist in training our lawyers.
“Nigerian Bar Association Section of business law has a programme called the knowledge impact series where we go to the Nigerian Law School to teach Young Nigerian lawyers about capital market practice. We tell them about is the Nigerian stock exchange and how integral it is to the capital market in Nigeria. We look forward to other opportunities for collaboration with the NSE.
As part of its mandate and objectives, the NBA Section on Business Law is the special arm of the Nigerian Bar Association, has organised several training programmes to build capacity for young and mid-level lawyers across the country. It engenders the development of commercial law and specialised commercial law practice in Nigeria.
The Section currently has 18 committees focused on specialized areas of commercial law practice and addressing issues from different sectors of the Nigerian economy. Through its committees and strategic partnerships with government parastatals, agencies and legislative bodies, the section organises regular workshops, seminars and training programmes for members, with a view to promoting commercial and business interests in Nigeria.
The closing gong/bell signifies the end of a trading session. While globally, ringing the bell is usually the responsibility of the Exchange’s Floor Managers, the NSE and a number of other Exchanges around the world present special guests with an opportunity to ring the closing gong.
THEODORA KIO-LAWSON