By Oluwole Josiah, Abuja

Wednesday, 1 Dec 2010

The Senate Committee on Capital Market said on Tuesday that it would probe the activities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The investigation will be in relation to the removal of Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke as the Director-General of the Exchange.

The committee also threatened to order the arrest of the Interim Administrator of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh, if he failed to appear before it on Thursday.

Ikazoboh was invited to appear before the committee on Tuesday along with the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, to explain recent events concerning the administration of the NSE.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, while announcing the summons during a meeting attended by Oteh, said the committee would also investigate the merger of quoted companies and unquoted companies approved by Ikazoboh.

He said the committee was also interested in knowing the details of the recent sacking of 95 workers by the NSE.

The committee, however, observed that Oteh did not sign the report she sent to it on the activities of the commission.

Responding, Oteh said she was not under obligation to append her signature on the report, wondering why the committee members were raising issues on that.

She was expected to forward a report to the committee, detailing the terms of reference given to the Interim Administrator of the NSE, as well as his exit date, ahead of the appointment of a new director-general for the Exchange.

Oteh was also not forthcoming with responses, as she complained about the presence of the media at the meeting.

Solomon expressed dissatisfaction on the responses given by Oteh, noting that her refusal to state the facts because of the presence of the media was a mere excuse.

He said, “You are talking about the press, but it is about the Nigerian investors. The first time you came, we told you that we refrain from commenting on that particular view because the capital market is information-driven and any negative utterance has the capacity of affecting the capital market. You don’t take that liberty for granted.

“You have been operating on the pages of newspapers. That is the way you operate and there are series of issues, which now makes it very important that we have this meeting. We have heard about mergers, and that the Interim Administrator, in less than a month, sacked one-third of the workforce.”

He added, “Even at that, give me the terms of reference to know whether it was part of the mandate given to him. Those people he sent off are Nigerians.

“We must investigate it. We have series of petitions about offer for sale and due diligence. We must know and we want to know, that is why we are in this particular committee.”

A member of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etok, said, “The DG is impressed to talk to the press more than talking to us. We in the Senate and the different committees have our mode of operation that regulate your conduct. Are we in the position to let you know if we brought the press?

“As a regulatory agency, when you get to where you are regulating, you exercise that authority. What right do you have to determine the mode of operation of the committee?”

 

Source: Punch