Group Decries Poor Capital Market Performance, Blames SEC Management

The Capital Market Integrity, Transparency and Good Governance Group has written a letter to President Bola Tinubu over alleged poor performance of the capital market in recent times.

The group in its letter is demanding the overhauling of the management team of the Securities and Exchange Commission over what it described as the poor performance of the Nigerian capital market.

The group made the claim in a letter titled “Call for the removal of the management of the Securities and Exchange Commission and restructuring of the Nigerian capital market” and made available to THE WHISTLER.

The was was jointly signed by the Chairman of the Group, Omobolanle Alogba, and the Secretary Abdulaziz Kazaure.

The Group is a member of the Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD), which is a coalition of over 2000 registered civil society and nongovernmental organizations committed to citizens’ empowerment, human rights protection, economic development and peace in Nigeria.

The group that monitors the performance of the capital market said it had observed with shock and dismay that the capital market has been “performing woefully.”

In its capacity as an advocacy group, the organisation said in the letter that it has investigated the cause of the poor performance.

According to the latter, one of the outcomes of the group’s investigation is that the management team of the Securities and Exchange Commission lacks what it takes to reposition the capital market.

The letter reads, “In the course of our investigative work, we engaged several key stakeholders in the Nigerian capital market.

“Stakeholders in the capital market informed us that the Management of the Securities and Exchange Commission always delay in approving their applications in respect of shares, bonds, registration of capital market operators, schemes of arrangement etc. even on routine requests such as documents and staff claims last for months on his table before approval.

“For instance, our checks with the Commission revealed that staff payments – such as service award – has been on his desk since January 15, 2024 without approval.

“The stakeholders strongly voiced their dissatisfaction with the performance of the management of the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the stakeholders, the unnecessary delays on the part of the management of the Securities and Exchange Commission has cost them millions of Naira which they cannot recover and above all, this kind of disposition is a violation of Executive order 8 of Presidency on Ease of Doing Business lunched in 2019.”

The group further claimed that SEC in the past three years has not approved the payment of unclaimed dividends in the investor protection fund, which is under the custody of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It added, “President Bola Tinubu, the consensus of the stakeholders and investors in the capital market is that the capital market is performing badly. We lend our voice to those of the stakeholders and investors in the capital market who are clamouring for the appointment of a competent management team for the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

ENDS