By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Mounir Gwazor, the acting director general (Ag DG) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday the approval of the second tranche of the Gombe State bond followed due process and within the ambit of the law, a statement from the commission affirmed.
According to Gwazor, SEC complies strictly with its procedures before approving any application. “SEC Nigeria is indeed unique among other capital market regulators around the world in carrying out pre-offer and post-offer inspections to ensure that funds raised from the capital market are not misappropriated but applied for the purposes stated in the issuance prospectus,’ he added.
The SEC Ag DG said in the case of Gombe State, it’s important to point out that this N10 billion is only the second tranche of a N30 billion bond issuance programme approved by the commission since September 2012. “The application complied with all our requirements under the law,” Gwarzo affirmed.
He says SEC has the utmost regard for the rule of law, “while it is true that the commission was served with the originating summons, there was no injunction from any court of competent jurisdiction restraining the commission from performing its statutory duty of approving the application by Gombe State,” Gwazor noted.
He explained that the first tranche worth N20 billion was issued in 2012 and in line with SEC’s rules and regulations, “we carried out on-site verification inspection of the projects completed from the proceeds of the first tranche. Our technical team satisfactorily verified and certified the projects and recommended approval of the second tranche,” Gwazor disclosed.
The Nigeria’s SEC Ag DG decried the situation in which disaffected parties file multiple court cases to prevent statutory government agencies from performing their duties to the detriment of the capital market and the entire economy. “As a statutory body, SEC will continue to carry out its legitimate functions undeterred unless there is a specific court order restricting it,” he affirmed.
He revealed that aside the Gombe bond, the commission also approved the N5.0 billion Oyo State Bond, N24 billion Zamfara State Bond and N9.3 billion Ebonyi State Bond.
Gwazor disclosed that the applications have been with the commission for months without approval.
Magnus Abe, a member of the Senate Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions, had during a budget defense meeting last week, questioned the bond approval by SEC in spite of the fact that the matter is presently before a competent court of law.
Mohammed Danjuma Goje, another member of the committee and a former governor of the State, also questioned the commission for granting approval for the bond.
