By NKIRUKA NNOROM

The Investment and Securities Tribunal, IST, has settled cases worth over N351.9 billion from the time of its inception in 1995 and now, says Mr. Wale Ojo, Head, Lagos Zonal Office, IST.

The Tribunal has also handled over 600 cases within the period and has successfully dispensed of many.

Ojo, who spoke at a press briefing ahead of Finance Week West Africa, being put together by Montgomery West Africa from June 5-6, 2014 in Lagos, said it takes the Tribunal maximum of three months to dispense of cases brought before it.

According to him, the quick resolution of cases has gone a long way in engendering confidence in the securities market, adding “investors now believe that the era of impunity has gone; you now have a court where you can ventilate your anger, where you can come up and seek reprieve. I believe the tribunal is a trust mechanism put in place to make people have stronger confidence in the market.”

.“This has allowed us to judiciously and timely resolve matters. So, if a matter is filed, we know that by time we sort out the preliminary, within the first one month, we will begin the trial and after the trial, within three months, we will conclude the matter,” he added.

Saying that IST has been receiving acclaim from other international securities market regulators, stated that all stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market have been happy with the Tribunal’s activities.

“All the stakeholders have always been happy about the activities of the Tribunal, talking about stockbrokers, investors, registrars, issuing houses. In fact you see investors that are so happy that they could get their money back. People are very happy with the Tribunal,” Ojo stated.

Also speaking, Dr. Wura Abiola, Managing Director/Management Transformation, Montgomery W/A, the company intends to contribute to the development of the region by empowering and connecting financial leaders across West Africa through the event.

“This leading conference mapping West Africa’s finance developments will discuss strategy, innovation and share knowledge on best practices where new technologies can be evaluated and new age business intelligence strategies explored to attract investment,” she stressed.