BY PETER EGWUATU
As part of its effort to enhance confidence in the Nigerian capital market, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh said her Commission is set to strengthen the Collective Investment Scheme (CIS)

Oteh, who spoke at the investment forum organized by the Commission on Monday, attributed the huge loss of investment by investors in the market to direct investment in equities, saying, “ In most advanced economies retail investor does not invest directly in equities but through a collective investment scheme.”

She said, “The SEC is determined to enhance the CIS and Investment Advisers through appropriate regulation. We will try to see that this sector of the capital market grow and be able to perform its function effectively.”

While commenting on various reforms embarked upon by the Commission, she said, “

It is also a clear signal that the reforms, which we have implemented in our market in the recent past, are yielding fruits. We at the SEC, and our partners, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Trade and Investment and the Central Bank of Nigeria are doing our best to impact on the economy.”

According to her, “Project 50 is a commemoration of 50 years of capital market regulation in Nigeria . It is therefore not entirely correct to think of this event as the 50th birthday ceremony of the SEC. It may interest you to know that capital market regulation in Nigeria predates the establishment of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, thirty-one years ago.

To be sure, the first major structure with a mandate to oversee segments of our capital market was the Capital Issues Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria , constituted in 1962, one year after the Lagos Stock Exchange (now NSE) came into existence. The committee was empowered to monitor the fledgling stock exchange and other aspects of the capital market, and to reach decisions on the “timing, price and amounts of all issues by public companies.” Our capital market was still at a rudimentary stage.”

She noted that successive governments at the federal level reviewed the system of market oversight, an effort that culminated in the formation of the Capital Issues Commission in 1973, adding “ This time, the commission, though a subsidiary of the Central Bank, had a measure of quasi-independence and was backed by a Decree.

In 1976, the Federal Government set up the Dr Pius Okigbo Financial System Review Panel to study the structure and operations of Nigeria ’s financial system. Following the recommendations of that panel, the Federal Government created the Securities and Exchange Commission by a Decree promulgated in 1979. In January 1980, under the leadership of President Shehu Shagari, who receives an award to that effect today, the present day SEC Nigeria took off.”

Oteh, noted that the Honorable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had been e well disposed to the reforms in the capital market and has given her backing to Project 50. So too has the Honorable Trade and Investment Minister, Dr Olusegun Aganga. Above all, Mr President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has expressed his strongest endorsement for our effort by urging the SEC under my leadership “to use any means backed by law to bring all those who abuse the capital market to book.”