As a crucial component of the economy, the capital market has a great role to play in its development. And this is what the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is presently doing to make the capital market the driver of Nigeria’s economy; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes.
On July 6th 2020, when Lamido Yuguda assumed office as the Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), analysts saw it as another opportunity to take the Commission to the next level considering the work, its former head; Mary Uduk did during her tenure as acting Director General.
A cursory assessment of the activities of SEC Nigeria and its contributions to the nation’s GDP over the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic era and the recent Russia-Ukraine war showed that the Commission has surpassed analysts’ forecasts in terms of investment inflows and other regulatory performance indices.
Recent activities of the investment market regulatory commission under the Yuguda-led executive management shows clearly that rather than bemoaning the inclement economic climate in the country, the SEC management has not only set strategic goals but also continued, through innovative regulatory guidelines and collaboration with other relevant institutions, to expand the frontiers of the investment space with the attendant implications for improved local and FDIs into the economy. The facts speak on this.
For instance, on market-wide issues, the Commission has drafted and presented an amendment to the ISA and the Bill to the National Assembly as part of its efforts to enhance the regulatory framework of the Nigerian capital market. The Bill will soon be passed and enacted into law.
Capital Market Master Plan as reform pivot
Determined to position the capital market as the driver of the economy, the SEC Director General promptly went to work on the Capital Market Master Plan (2015-2025). The objective of the Master Plan is to map out strategies for the improvement of the Nigerian capital market in key areas such as investor protection and education, professionalism, and product innovation, and for the expansion of the capital market’s role in the economy.
The SEC DG, not wanting to jettison the plans set out with his management team successfully reviewed the CCMP to realign the initiatives/deliverables to prevailing market conditions and keep the document relevant in the dynamic capital market due to issues related to Fintech, sustainability and regional integration.
Corporate governance
SEC under the leadership of Yuguda released guidelines on the Implementation of Sections 60-63 of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007. At the same time, the Commission not only developed the SEC Corporate Governance Guidelines (SCGG) but also harmonise the reporting timeline of the SEC Corporate Governance Guideline (SCGG) with that of the National Code of Corporate Governance (NCCG), it also in year 2021 exposed to the public for comments an amendment to Rules 42(2).
The Commission has also as part of its regulatory interventions to amicably resolve disputes between the board and shareholders of listed companies resolved the disputes between Alhaji Muneer Alade Bankole (the Chief Executive Officer) and Sheikh Abdulmohsen A. Al-Thunayan (Chairman of the Board) of Medview Airlines, resolved those between major shareholders of Ikeja Hotels Plc and returned the company to profitability and also reached a settlement with Oando Plc in 2021 after concluding investigation of Corporate Governance allegations leveled against the company.
Money laundering/ terrorism financing
On the controversial issue of Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing Of Terrorism (AML/CFT), following the GIABA Mutual Evaluation of Nigeria, the Yuguda-led executive management made concerted efforts in the capital market to meet both the GIABA Mutual Evaluation Report(MER) Follow-Up Process and the FATF International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) requirements in order to avoid Nigeria being placed on the FATF public grey list at the Plenary when the grace period expires in October, 2022.
Ponzi scheme
In furtherance of its regulatory mandate, the Commission conducted investigations into complaints by investors and out of the 250 complaints brought forward into the period, 182 were resolved. Also, out of the 58 complaints in relation to Ponzi schemes received, 45 were resolved. The Commission recover 10,659,168 units of various companies’
shares as well as the sum of N1,384,255,526.73 recovered for investors during the period under review, sealing up the premises of 4 illegal operators and initiating the prosecution of their promoters.
The good work Yuguda is doing at the SEC has not gone unnoticed, thus earning him the leadership of the West African Securities Regulators Association (WASRA).
As Yuguda continues to soldier on in spite of the post Covid-19 challenges both globally and on the home front, economic watchers say, Nigeria’s capital market would be better placed to compete with its peers globally.
