AN umbrella body of shareholders, the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) has described the Federal Government’s recent lifting of ban on some products, including textile, as inimical to economic growth and development.

The association said the government move has further set the Nigerian economy back by another decade, even as it said that the incessant policy somersault of the government is capable of destroying the entrepreneurship spirit among Nigerians.

In a chat with Sunday Tribune, the national coordinator of ISAN, Sir Sunny Nwosu said for a government to have injected N70 billion into the textile industry and now turn around to lift ban on importation of textile materials amounts to systematic killing of the local industry.

Nwosu, who frowned on the lifting of ban on other products like toothpick and household furniture, noted that local and international entrepreneurs seeking to invest in the Nigerian economy are being highly threatened by the government reversal and frequent changes in its policies.

Taking a swipe at the ongoing reform in the financial sector, Nwosu called on the regulatory authority to revisit some of the transactions that have so far taken place on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as they relate to some mergers and listing of companies’ shares in the market.

“What has happened has further destroyed the Exchange rather than building the market. The Exchange is not growing despite the capitalisation rising up to N8 trillion due to the mergers. We are aware that the Exchange is desperate to have companies listed to boost capitalisation, but in the real sense, the market is going down and for the market to bounce back, confidence must be built and this will ensure the rise in capitalisation in the true sense of the word.

“Recent approval of a merger between a quoted company and an unlisted company, in a jaundiced scheme of arrangement, and 85 per cent waiver in respect of NSE fees and SEC, showed that the capital market regulator has abdicated its responsibility in the pursuit of the interest of a few people who want to control the economy using the commission and the Exchange.

On the selection process ongoing at the Exchange for the position of a new director general, the association said as long as there are pending cases in court challenging the removal of the former DG of the NSE, anything being carried out would amount to an exercise in futility.