by 
Tony Elumelu
Tony Elumelu, the Chairman, Heirs Holdings has called on the National Assembly to strengthen the Nigerian Capital Market by ensuring passage of bill in untapped areas of the economy
Elumelu spoke to newsmen at a two-day stakeholders forum on “Realising the full potential of the Nigeria Economy through Proactive Capital Market Legislation in Abuja”.
“The National Assembly has a critical role to play in developing Nigeria, in growing our economy.
Take for instance the railway sector, we need to have the National Assembly pass the necessary regulation that will open up that sector.
Take the oil sector, there are legislative bills that they need to pass to open that structure.
Utility, Infrastructure bills, we are still today operating with some old laws and that is inhibiting capital from coming into the economy,”Elumelu noted.
Elumelu said growing the middle class in the country was important as they were key for economic growth in developing economies.
According to him, we need to deepen the Nigeria capital market, we need to grow the middle class, because the middle income class in this country is not existing.
“And there is no modern economy that can do well without a strong middle class,” he said.
He noted that incentives helped in shaping behaviour and as such should be used as a mechanism for economic growth.
Government incentives should shape the right behaviour that government wants to see,” he said.