The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved a step forward to ensuring that stakeholders are sufficiently enlightened on the commodity trading ecosystem.

The Acting Director-General of SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, noted that there exists knowledge gap within the ecosystem, hence, the need for capacity building on the Commodities Trading ecosystem.

Represented by the Acting Executive Commissioner Operations, Mr. Isyaku Tilde, the SEC boss explained that, “The Technical Committee set up to develop a roadmap for reviving the Commodities Trading Ecosystem came up with over forty (40) recommendations to be implemented in 4 phases between 2018 and 2025; the report also observed the knowledge gap that exists within the ecosystem and recommended the need for capacity building on the Commodities Trading ecosystem to stakeholders and to the general public.”

Uduk made this known in her address during a capacity building workshop for Judges and top management of the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) on the implementation of the Commodities Trading Ecosystem, at the Nigerian Capital Market Institute (NCMI) in Abuja on Monday.

According to her, “The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its implementation of the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan, constituted a Technical Committee on Commodities Trading Ecosystem.

“The mandate of the Committee was to identify challenges of the existing framework/infrastructure and develop a roadmap for a vibrant ecosystem.

“The IST statutorily has jurisdiction over securities related matters and this includes the commodity trading market.

“The successful implementation of the Technical Committee’s report will undoubtedly lead to more activities in the market and this will result to disputes.

“Therefore, to effectively make informed decisions on commodities market related disputes, the judicial and non-judicial staff of the Tribunal requires the basic knowledge on the Commodities Trading Ecosystem.”

She further added that: “The Ecosystem is an organized commodities market consisting of multiple players that interact to form the agricultural value chain.

“They include commodity exchanges, farmers, merchants, aggregators, processors/producers, commodity market operators, warehouse operators, collateral managers, banks, insurance companies, clearing houses, and logistic companies.

“It is important to organize this market to enhance its efficiency, growth and competitiveness which will better position it to play a strong enabling role in food security, employment generation and economic diversification which is the main trust of this government.

“The Commodity Trading ecosystem provides a sophisticated human interaction of which the inevitable disputes will call upon the IST.”

The Chairman, IST, Mr. Isiaka Isaiah Idoko, commended the SEC for this timely and laudable intervention to bridge the lacunae in knowledge that exists amongst his members, and to ensure that they continue to improve in the performance of their statutory functions.