By Kadiri Abdulrahman
The Debt Management Office (DMO) and stock broking firm for the Federal Government, CSL Stockbrokers Limited, are partnering to raise security investment awareness to Ibadan and Kano.
Ifeoma Ukwunna, Head, Retail Business for CSL, made this known in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday.
Ukwunna said that the programme, which had earlier held in Lagos and Enugu, is to create awareness about immense investment opportunities in the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) securities.
She said that the aim was to target “retail investors ” across the country, who are mostly uninformed about such investment opportunities.
She said that the Southwest arm of the awareness programme would hold in Ibadan on June 21, while that of the Northwest is scheduled for Kano on June 28.
“The government Stockbroker, CSL Stockbrokers Limited, on behalf of the DMO, is organising the FGN Securities Issuance Awareness Programmes for the Southwest and Northwest regions to bridge knowledge gap about these instruments.
“FGN Securities are financial instruments issued by the DMO on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. They are mostly fixed-income securities.
“Fixed-income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule.
“The borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate, like once or twice a year and repay the principal amount on maturity,” she said.
She said that investors in fixed-income securities were guaranteed of a constant and secure return on their investments.
“For example, a retired person might like to receive a regular dependable payment to live on like gratuity, but not consume principal,” she said.
She listed the existing FGN securities as FGN Bond, FGN Savings Bond, FGN Green Bond, Sovereign Sukuk, Euro Bond and Treasury Bills.
She added that the securities were backed by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government.
“The interest income earned on FGN securities are tax exempt. Investors can use their investments in FGN Securities as collateral to borrow from banks and other financial institutions.
“Investors can use FGN securities to diversify their portfolios, reduce risk and achieve stability in value. They can also earn a fixed, predictable and regular cashflow on their investments,” she advised. (NAN)
