Controversies among stakeholders and operators have continued to trail the recent intervention by the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on capital market on issues that affects investment in the stock market.
While some operators and stakeholders criticised the intervention by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over various reforms being put in place others welcome the reforms but blamed the Commission for the untimely intervention in turning out rules and regulations that would have safeguarded investors from losing trillions of naira during the stock market meltdown.
For those that are against the recent intervention by the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on capital market, the question they have asked is “What interest are the House of Representatives and the Senate Committees on Capital Market pursuing in the matter concerning the sacked former Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Professor Ndi Okereke Onyiuke?
anxiety of the stakeholders and operators came on the heels of the action of the House Committee on Capital Market directing the Securities Exchange Commission to reverse the sack of Okereke-Onyiuke as the Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market had insisted in its letter to the Director-General of the SEC that since Onyiuke had put in her notice of retirement in June, she should be allowed to quietly retire rather than being sack.
Following the House of Representatives line of action, the Senate Committee on capital market chaired by Senator Ganiyu Solomon equally declared that it would probe SEC, with Ms. Arunma Oteh on matters connected to its financial statements and other issues.
While the House of Representatives Committee approached the matter frontally without any hold back, the Senate Committee on its part approached the matter with care and decorum even though from every indication it is aiming at achieving the same result, which is to get Onyiuke back as Director General of the Stock Exchange to complete her remaining months and by interpretation get a reversal of her sack to retirement.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders said that the SEC did not follow due process in relieving the erstwhile Director General of her position.
One of such persons who criticised that sack of Onyiuke is the Chairman, Progressive Shareholders of Nigeria (PSAN), Mr. Boniface Okezie, saying “the last 50 years of the stock market had witnessed tremendous growth but the gains had been eroded by the recent reforms of the apex bank , Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the SEC as such growth cannot be recorded in the nearest future”.
Okezie, who also pointed out that the reforms had not benefitted the economy in any way urged the regulators “to stop chasing shadows with series of investigations” noting that CBN and SEC were all involved in the alleged manipulations in the market”.
The shareholder activist who advocated for a holistic approach to the issue instead of compounding the problem said the regulators should address the real issues that affected the market in the past and come out with solutions to avoid future occurrence.
Over all, as the new interim management strives to gain the confidence of both investors and dealers, some stakeholders have maintained that the market would only meet the aspiration of Nigerians and the economy through complete transformation of the entire system.
Also, the Senate is equally concerned about the appointment of the Interim Administrator of the Exchange which it considered very fluid with no terminal date.
This was one of the bones of contention during an interactive session between the Senate Committee on Capital Market and the Miss Oteh led SEC when she was asked the criteria used in appointing the Interim Administrator which was not contained in the report she submitted to the Senate.
This is one of the concerns of the SEC D-G,Oteh who had expressed serious reservation over the suspicious interest shown by members of the National Assembly in handling matters of national interest which has so far shown clearly that personal interest are now being placed above those of the nation and the common people whose investment were shattered at the Stock Exchange under the watch of its former Director General Prof. Onyiuke.
It was also gathered that the SEC resolved that it would have been unpatriotic to allow the former Stock Exchange’s DG Prof. Onyiuke proceed on retirement amidst the controversy about the extent of her culpability for the crash of the Exchange with no attempt to put in place safety valves to critically guide against the crash as well as cushion its effect in the context of the global financial meltdown that became glaring since 2008.
It was also gathered that the SEC Director-General through her Secretary Lawrence Ike had sent a report to Senator Ganiyu Solomon led Senate Committee on Capital Market, stating that the Interim Administration of the NSE has been discharging their duties with diligence, resulting in progress on restoring market integrity and investor confidence.
The report further stated; “In addition, the Council has been carrying out its oversight function. Council Committees have been very active and in particular, the quotations Committee of the Council, which considers listing and other applications, met to consider a number of pending applications. Twelve applications were considered and approved.
“The term of the Interim Administrator of the Exchange will come to an end on the assumption of duty of the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Exchange. The Exchange is looking to hire a new CEO and three Executive Directors for Listings, Strategy and Business Development and Information Technology and Market Operations.
“In May 2010, the Council engaged the international consulting company, Accenture, to assist The Exchange with the executive selection process. The executive selection process is a five-stage process as reflected in Table 1 below”.
The SEC DG’s report further stated that following Council directives, on 26th August 2010, 32.5 per cent of the Exchange’s staff members were disengaged even as she explained that the decision was a painful one taken only after considerable thought and analysis of the current realities facing the Exchange adding however that arrangements are in place to ensure that the disengaged staff receive all the benefits to which they are entitled pursuant to applicable policies of the Exchange, the employee handbook and applicable laws.
The Report equally revealed that Aluko & Oyebode and KPMG are conducting an investigation into several matters at the Exchange including financial management, governance and malfeasance adding that the reports of the investigation are being finalized.
Source:http://www.vanguardngr.com/
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