Abuja — The need for economic and political stability in the whole of Africa as a pre-requisite for continent-wide development re-echoed here Thursday as the Sixth Annual Conference of the African Stock Exchanges Association(ASEA) began.
The conference is taking place amidst reports of political unrest in Cote d'Ivoire, the West African nation and the world's number one cocoa producer, noted for its political stability until recently.
"Political instability does not only disrupt economic activity, but interferes with the principle of property rights," Jim Mbaru, Chairman of ASEA, noted in his speech at the opening session.
The conference is aimed showcasing investment opportunities in Africa, but Mbaru said achievement of political stability in the continent is a pre-requisite for the attraction of foreign investors.
"Without assurance of peace and the sanctity of property rights, foreign investors will shun the continent, while indigenous investors will shy away," he said.
One of the speakers scheduled to present a paper Thursday did not attend. Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, said the absent speaker (name not given), was one of two people who had called to ascertain the situation in Lagos following last week's clashes there.
Ethnic clashes between the Oodua Peoples Congress (a militant Yoruba group, now banned) and indigenes of northern Nigeria resident in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, left hundreds of people dead, and several property destroyed.
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Mabaru described Nigeria's hosting of the conference as "one of the dividends" of Nigeria's transition to democratic rule last year, after several years of military dictatorship.
Nigeria was a foundation member of the seven-year-old ASEA, but the country's efforts to host the conference earlier were rejected "because we do not want a leader in military uniform to declare open our conference," Mbaru said.
"We are here today enjoying the democratic dividends that flow from the free expression of a nation's will," he said, and added: "For the sake of Africa's future, we join Nigerians in demanding that the transformation from a military regime to an elected system of government be permanent, for only then will Nigeria take its rightful place as the giant leader in this continent of ours."
Other pre-requisites for the development of capital markets in Africa, according to Mbaru, are the sustenance of economic reform programmes, and creation of institutions that encourage the growth of capital markets.
Mbaru noted that economic reforms initiated by African countries in the 1990s stimulated many economies to new growth, but he stressed that "African countries must pursue the programme of economic reforms to its logical conclusion."
These reforms, he said, will pave way for the emergence of big business as the "prime agents of change in the continent."
