Shareholders have urged Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to comply fully with the directives that the Securities and Exchange Commission gave it after the commission carried out a corporate governance audit of the group.
They also commended the commission for carrying out the audit.
This, according to them, is because it is when the regulators perform their duties and ensure that the necessary checks and balances that boost transparency are in place, that investors can have confidence in the capital market.
SEC had initiated a corporate governance investigation into ETI after allegations emerged that the group, which is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, had breached corporate governance rules and inserted misstatements into its 2012 financial accounts.
Following the investigation, it advised ETI to convene an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting before the end of February 2014 to allow shareholders to deliberate and pass resolutions on the “critical findings” and recommendations of the corporate governance audit.
It also asked the shareholders to appoint a new chairman to monitor the implementation of a one-year plan to remedy the corporate governance flaws discovered in the company.
The President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said the move by SEC was a good one.
“I learnt that SEC has asked them to convene an EGM to discuss all those corporate governance breaches and I think it is good that SEC has discovered all those anomalies. And if the EGM is to correct all that, it will be good; instead of allowing all of them to carry on and allowing investors to believe that all is well.”
He urged ETI to follow the directives of SEC to the letter in order to resolve the challenges.
“In essence, what SEC is telling them (ETI) is the reality; let them comply,” he said, adding that by doing so, the group could easily overcome the challenges and save itself from further troubles.
The President, Constance Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Shehu Mikail, also commended SEC for the move.
He said, “We are in support of the decision taken by SEC with regards to ETI because the system of governance by the company is not palatable to investors.”
He added that the intervention of SEC was vital because if it did not take such actions when gaps were discovered at a listed company, it would send a wrong signal to investors and other listed companies.
“We believe that if SEC does not take serious or drastic actions in such situations, it will send a wrong signal to other institutions and they will not operate the way they ought to,” he said.
ETI had said in a statement on Monday that it was taking the statements made by SEC last Thursday, seriously.
It said, “Changes have indeed already been made and initiatives under way to strengthen further ETI’s corporate governance. We continue nonetheless to be committed to working with the SEC and our other regulators in this important task.”
ETI has its headquarters in Togo with offices in 37 countries and Okezie, who said the EGM was good, expressed concern that shareholders in Nigeria might not be able to participate in the meeting if it was held outside Nigeria.
Source: Punch (by Simon Ejembi)
