For sometime now, the Nigerian capital market has been enmeshed in crisis that has the potential to vitiate the gains it has recorded since its establishment in 1961. The   crisis, which  reached its climax recently   resulted  in the unceremonial removal  of Professor Ndi  Okereke-Onyiuke, erstwhile director general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Alhaji Aliko Dangote whose election as president of the NSE has been mired in litigation.
Inevitably, this action has slowed down trading activities on the floor of the NSE. The volume of shares traded has dropped significantly as a result of loss of confidence in the market by investors. For instance, before the crisis, the volume of shares traded was in the region of 500 million shares  per trading day. But throughout last week, the volume of shares traded at the market hovered between 164 million and 200 million shares. Last week, the market capitalisation dropped by N188 billion. There are indications that the situation may grow worse if urgent steps are not taken to restore confidence in the market.
We note that the capital market is an essential element in the economic growth and development of any country. In fact, a modern economy leverages on an efficient and effective capital market that helps pool domestic savings and mobilises capital for productive projects. The absence of an effective capital market, therefore, could leave most productive projects which carry developmental agenda unexploited. No doubt, the capital market assists the public sector to close resource gap, and complements its effort in financing essential socio-economic development because it remains a veritable platform for raising capital for long-term project.
Some of the big corporations in the country today are a product of the capital market. This is because, without the capital market, these corporations would have only limited sources of funds to finance their expansion programmes. The capital market also made the banking industry consolidation five years ago a success story. It made it possible for banks to raise enough money to attain the N25 billion minimum capital then stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The capital market is also a veritable instrument for attracting foreign portfolio investors who are critical in supplementing the domestic savings levels. It therefore facilitates the inflow of foreign finance into the domestic economy for national  development.
It is against this backdrop that we call for the urgent intervention of the federal government to restore investors’ confidence in the market. We acknowledge that as an important instrument for economic development, the capital market should be   properly regulated  to protect investors and also instill confidence.
Government needs to prevail on both  the regulators and operators to  discharge their responsibilities  with utmost caution in order to guarantee stability in the market. The market is  a very sensitive one, hence all over the world, especially in the advanced markets,  regulators take into consideration the spiral effects of their actions before  embarking on major regulatory activities. This should be the case in Nigeria, too.