Abuja — Senate President, Senator David Mark weekend reviewed the crisis in the nation's stock market and called on the African Securities Exchange Association (ASEA) to formulate a blueprint that would put the sector back on the path of recovery and growth.

Mark, who made the call at the meeting of the ASEA in Abuja, canvassed conscious effort by capital market operators on the African continent to turn around the economies of member nations.

The call was against the backdrop of the dwindling fortune in the stock markets caused by the global financial meltdown that has led to and worsened the economic woes of investors in the capital market.

It is against this backdrop that Senator Mark charged operators of capital markets in Africa at the ASEA meeting in Abuja that conscious and deliberate effort must be made in the sector to positively turn around the economies of the continent.

Mark said that, "Prior to the emergence of what has now become global economic meltdown, some equity markets in Africa had records of strong performance by world standards, particularly in the area of Return of Investment, (ROI).

"Because most African companies are still at the growing stage, the global crisis definitely presents a new platform of opportunities for African capital markets to assess their strength in the global securities markets."

A statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Paul Mumeh, quoted Mark to have argued that "it has thus become expedient for ASEA to identify the road map for a re-engineered and progressive African capital market.

"From the perspective of the Nigerian legislature, one of the values that I have gathered here is the need for government at all tiers to take advantage of the capital market by floating bonds to access medium and long term funds to finance capital projects.

"This would not only save the government from the ordeal of scrubbing and scratching to finance the economy, but deepen the market after the listing of such bonds on the secondary market."

He was further quoted to have expressed satisfaction at steps already taken by Nigeria to lead the way in this regard and urged other African countries to take a cue from her (Nigeria).

Director General, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, who was elected President of the ASEA at the end of the three-day meeting, said ASEA was fashioning out aggressive strategy that would bail out the African Stock markets from the economic dire strait in which it is at the moment.