Business Nigerian Stock Exchange should be renamed the “Lagos Stock Exchange” – Fashola

[Vunderkind]

Governor Fashola, governor of Lagos state has asked that a review of the 1977 decree be made ‘urgently’ to restore the name of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to the Lagos Stock Exchange. His reason for this review is that calling it the “Nigerian Stock Exchange” ‘negates the global standards.”

He made this observation while addressing journalists at the conclusion of the 10th Lagos Executive/Legislative parley, saying that all over the world, the stock exchange was named after the host cities and not the country itself.

He said that it had started out as being called the Lagos Stock Exchange, but that during the military era – and in the absence of a legislative arm of government – the name was changed arbitrarily to the Nigerian Stock Exchange in a unification move.

“I think the time has come for us to begin to look at the legislation that was passed during the military administration that is decrees and acts. I think that was when the Lagos Stock Exchange became the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in unification for the country…Perhaps there is the need for us to go back to what is best global practice because we have the Johannesburg, Paris, New York and we don’t have the American Stock Exchange or German Stock Exchange while there is a Frankfurt Stock Exchange and so on…There is nothing like the British Stock Exchange, but the London Stock Exchange,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said.

 

[curator]

hmm... what is in a name. Well he is the Governor of Lagos State and needs to do what is right for Lagos. What happens if the government decides they are moving the NSE to Abuja? We live in a different world from those other countries. They have light and water, we do not. They have good healthcare, we do not. They have a relatively secure society, we do not. They have good education, roads etc, etc, etc - we do not.

 

[Tannoy]

You have said it all. Methinks that if we are to revert to the status quo, we will have ourselves an Abuja Stock Exchange instead of Fashola's intended appellation.

Furthermore, as you have said - what's in a name? The standards Fashola speaks of here are imtangible. It's not like changing the name positions us any higher in the stock market, so why bother at all?

I think he's trying to be patriotic to the state that's all, and if so, well, he's done a good job of it