“To stop forex scam, Nigerians must begin to see forex trading as a skill, not as a get-quick-rich scheme. People need to be patient to grow their funds.” These were the words of Emmanuel Okwara Jnr., the Nigerian country manager for Equiti.
With an estimated daily trading volume of about $7 trillion, the global forex market is the largest financial market in the world. Forex is a globally decentralized market where currencies and other financial assets are traded, and Nigeria is one of the countries taking full use of the forex trading market.
With the internet advancing and being a major part of daily lives, the majority of individuals are searching for methods to earn money online to augment their finances.
Despite the fact that forex trading has gradually become huge as more people move into the market, a lot of Nigerians have lost huge amounts of money to fraudsters.
In addition to this, the federal government seems to show a lack of interest to grow the industry.
Country manager, Equiti Nigeria, Emmanuel Okwara, said Nigeria must begin to see forex as a skill, not as a get-quick-rich scheme.
Equiti is a pioneering world-class and multi-award-winning fintech company that provides the platform for people to trade the global financial markets.
According to Okwara, Nigerians need to be patient to grow their funds, noting that this is necessary to avoid falling into the hands of fraudsters.
He said the major reasons people lose funds are greed, fear and an attempt to fight the market.
“Most traders are trading aggressively and at the end of the day, somebody loses his capital and he says forex trading is a scam whereas the business is not a scam but that person’s risk management is very bad,” Okwara said.
“Most, we discover that most people are trading with their family problems in their head. Some are also trading to become rich in two weeks. It doesn’t work that way.
“We have people that have been trading for years profitably. They have not lost funds and why is it so? The reason is because of good risk management and trade psychology.”
According to Okwara, there are three Ps in forex which includes process, patient and practice.
He noted that the three Ps govern every business, adding that if traders apply them in forex ‘there is no way you can say it is a scam.’
“People undervalue what they should know and overvalue what others have Okwara said. “People can do this themselves by devoting just 30minutes of their time every day.”
While advising the Federal government to take advantage of opportunities in the forex market, Okwara maintained that the best form of empowerment is financial empowerment.
Okwara is optimistic about the potential of forex trading reducing unemployment and poverty levels in the country. He said that by using the institutional mechanism to drive a profitable foreign exchange in the country and with government regulation in the market, Nigeria might drastically reduce unemployment and poverty.
“So this is a kind of business that if the government can go into it, regulate it, and train people through partnership with us, this is one of the things that can eradicate poverty very fast,” he said.
Speaking on the Equiti platform, Okwara said the firm provides the platform for individuals, institutions, and companies to trade opportunities in the global financial market.
According to him, this market includes assets ranging from currencies (like EUR, USD, GBP, JPY and more), spot metals (like Gold, Silver, Platinum), Crude oil, stocks and indices.
He said Equiti also provides the platform for people to trade all these assets and provide education to people on how to take advantage of the platform to trade profitably.
“We don’t collect money from you. Just two weeks ago we just launched our license in the United Arab Emirates. We are one of the few brokers that have a license to do business in the US and the first broker to secure a license in Kenya and Jordan. We have been in the business for 13years although we are new in Nigeria.”
Equiti has a presence in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. It is also looking to expand its presence to key major Nigerian cities.
‘We have a very big expansion plan. We hope to have an office in Lagos and Port Harcourt. And we also hope to have satellite offices in Kaduna, Kano, Benin, Calabar and many cities. We are open for partnership.”
He noted that what Nigeria needs at this time was the regulation of the Forex industry by the government against fraudulent brokers.
He said the fact that government keep complaining about people doing something and they keep doing it, then there is a need to ask questions.
“Forex trading has come to go stay so why don’t government regulate the business?
‘We want this business to be regulated to make it more organized. Aside from that, to remove the bad name. If we have regulations in place, it will help sieve the chaffs from the grain. But because it is a porous environment so anything goes. The business is well regulated in Kenya.
“Though the Security Exchange Commission has been doing a fantastic job in sensitizing Nigerians, we need regulation. We are open to partnership with the government because we want people to be sensitized. The media should also help us spread the news”.
