By Peter Egwuatu
The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, says Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke was dropped as Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in the interest of the common investors.

Okereke-Onyiuke

Director General of SEC, Ms. Arunma Oteh said on NTA Weekend that the Commission intervened as a result of  the crisis going at the Exchange with a view to protecting the investors and preventing the market from further damage.

“The SEC has a responsibility to protect the investing public. We are really concerned with the ordinary investor who had no big money to invest and diversify their portfolios. So it is our duty to protect the market. We had watched the scenario going at the Exchange and did not want to interfere but when it became obvious and in order not to allow the market to fail we had to stepped in”, she said.

“ The Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 vests the unalloyed responsibility for safeguarding the interest of the public and protecting the investor on the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Commission has closely followed the developments in the NSE, particularly with respect to inadequate oversight of the Exchange, ongoing litigations, allegations of financial mismanagement, governance challenges, and the inordinate delays in the implementation of the succession plan for the Exchange.

In following the developments, the Commission has, at all times, carefully deliberated on the implications and ramifications of a direct intervention in the affairs of the Exchange. In this deliberation, the Commission weighed the consequences on the market of a direct intervention set against the broader goal of safeguarding the interest of the public and protecting the investor”.

Asked why it took long for the Commission to act, Oteh said, “ The Commission had previously asked the NSE to develop and implement a credible and transparent succession plan and while the NSE had made significant progress, it had unfortunately not completed the process by the deadline of 31st of July approved by the Commission despite an extension of the deadline. A key element of this 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.

We don’t just interfere when we have no cause to do so. It was extremely exigent for us to come in at this point in time to protect the common investors and the market in general”.

On the allegations of insolvency of the NSE by te former president of the Stock Exchange, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the NSE D-G said the Commission might not be able to determine the the veracity of the allegations because the NSE “has not yet, as statutorily required, submitted its audited financial statements for the year 2009. A formal investigation will therefore serve to shed some light on the situation”.