By Peter Egwuatu

Criticisms  have continued to trail the recruitment process for the appointment of a substantive Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), with concerns about the possibility of concluding the exercise as promised.

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The Interim Administrator of the Exchange, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh had announced that  a substantive Director General for the Exchange will emerge by early January 2011.

Vanguard gathered that the recruitment of the new DG for the NSE moved closer to a resolution with an interview and screening exercise conducted last week, Tuesday in Lagos.

It was also gathered that the interview panel consisting of the Interim Administrator, Mr. Emmanuel Ikhazoboh, Alhaji Maccido (Council Member), Ms. Tinu Awe (acting as Secretary) and two officials from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) gathered last week to conduct interview for some of the short- listed candidates.

Vanguard gathered that Accenture, which before now was appointed to take care of the recruitment exercise was not at the venue of  the interview.

Attempt to reach Accenture to confirm or say why it was  not at the meeting proved abortive as at press time.
It will be recalled that Ikazoboh recently told Business Morning in an exclusive interview that a new Director General of the NSE is expected to emerge later in December but will formally take office in January 2011.
Speaking on the award-winning daily financial news programming, a production of MBC News Corp on Channels Television, Ikhazoboh said his first 100 days in office has been challenging.

Meanwhile, stakeholders reactions on the absence of the Accenture at the interview panel has started pouring in.
Speaking to Vanguard, Mr. Adebayo Adeleke, National Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association  of Nigeria (ISAN) said, “ The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is confused over the appointment of Ikazoboh as interim administrator.

It is like they have realised their mistake. How can the Commission appoint Ikazoboh for such position when he is some how involved in the auditing of the accounts of the NSE that SEC has been asked to probe. It makes no sense since we gathered that Ikazoboh had worked with Akintola Williams Deloitte before moving to his own firm.

“ Probably SEC has realised its mistake and is making fast move to get a new DG. That could be one of the reasons why South African consultant  is being engaged. For the Accenture, who were appointed to  conduct the recruitment exercise, the firm was hitherto engaged by the NSE former management to transit the Exchange to a demutualised (a public) outfit that can be listed on its own Exchange as well as in any other stock exchanges in the world. So giving this task of recruiting a new DG to Accenture is also another mistake by SEC. Well, I believe if this issue is not properly handled there are going to be litigation from various stakeholders in future”.

Speaking on the appointment of a substantive DG for the Exchange, Mr.Boniface Okezie,Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN) said, “ SEC created the vacancy, there was a DG who had indicated to retire and hand over to another person. If SEC had allowed that process to continue there would not have been any vacancy. The NSE is a private institution that has its own Board in place to take care of any shortcomings if any. Therefore, the Commission is a problem in itself. It should be concern with market development and regulation rather than interfering in private issues.

What I see in this recruitment exercise is that the Commission wants to appoint people that will be reporting to it. It may be that Accenture was not ready to dance to its tune that may be the reason why it is being dropped.

It will be recalled that after the sack of  the immediate past Director General of the NSE , Professor Ndi Okereke and the suspension of  the President of the Exchange, Alhaji Aliko Dangote , the SEC  following report of alleged mismanagement of finances by the former management appointed Ikazoboh as the Exchange’s interim administrator.

Dangote had accused the NSE former management of financial impropriety and call on SEC to probe the management.
The SEC, an apex regulatory body of the Nigerian capital market had to intervene on the crisis ridden  management in order to safeguard investors’ interest.

Before the sack of Okereke-Onyiuke , the Commission had previously asked the NSE to develop and implement a credible and transparent succession plan while the NSE had made significant progress, it had unfortunately not completed the process by the deadline of 31st of July 2010  approved by the Commission despite an extension of the deadline.

A key element of the  succession plan was the selection and appointment of a New Chief Executive Officer (Director General) for the Exchange. In the process prescribed by the Commission, the Exchange, through a credible and transparent process was to source candidates through open advertisement, conduct a screening process and assessment center, conduct panel interviews, and send the three topmost candidate to the Commission for screening. Only after they have been screened and cleared by the Commission, could the Exchange go ahead and extend an offer to the selected candidate.

The Commission is certain that this process can be concluded quickly. The Exchange has contracted Accenture to facilitate the selection exercise. Accenture has confirmed that nine hundred and forty_four (944) candidates applied for the four positions including that of Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange. One hundred and thirty one (131) applied for the post of Chief Executive Officer and the rest applied for the positions of Executive Director Listings, Executive Director, IT and market Operations, and Executive Director, Strategy, and Business Developments.

The Commission has encouraged the Exchange to conclude the process of selecting and appointing a new management team..
Ikazoboh’s mandate include to play the role of Chief Executive Officer until the conclusion of the recruitment and assumption of duty of the substantive new Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange. By the very nature of the interim role, he is not eligible to compete or vie for the position of the Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange.

Given the critical period of transition that the Exchange was facing and the ongoing litigation that had embroiled the Council of the Exchange, the SEC determined that it would be imprudent to leave the Council without a designated leader. The SEC appointed Mr. Ballama Manu as the Interim President of the Council, to steer the Council and Exchange through this critical period of uncertainty.

Manu has been involved in getting the succession plan back on track to ensure the timely appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer.
Meanwhile it should be noted that before the appointment of Ikazoboh as interim administrator of the NSE, he was the Chairman/CEO, Hedonmark Management Services Ltd., a management consulting firm, business process outsourcing and contract employee management.

Ikazoboh has built an impressive record through a variety of leadership roles.
He was formerly the Chairman/CEO for Deloitte West and Central Africa from 2006_2009. Prior to that, he worked as client service director Deloitte Africa from 2002_2006.

He joined Akintola Willimams Deloitte as a senior audit assistant in 1975 and worked his way up to partner and senior partner. As a senior partner in Akintola Williams Deloitte Nigeria from 1992_2002, he was responsible for audit and other professional services for all financial institutions clients of the firm in Nigeria and Africa.