By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-A substantive director general (DG) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be named in April, president Goodluck Jonathan said at the commissioning of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) X-Gen Trading Platform on Thursday.

This was contained as an addendum in a syndicated story emanating from the Nigerian Stock Exchange via an e-mail.

“NOTE: He also said a substantive DG will be named for SEC in April,” the addendum said.

This is coming on the heels of the exit of Arunma Oteh as DG of Nigeria’s SEC on Monday January 12, 2015 after spending the mandatory five (5) years in office.

Oteh who was appointed by president Jonathan had her own fair share of controversy as DG of the commission.

For instance her faceoff  in March 2012 with  Herman Hembe, the chairman, House Committee on Capital Market, accusing Hembe, of demanding N39 million from SEC and another N5 million cash request to support the investigation into the dwindling fortunes of the Nigerian capital market.

Oteh also alleged that Hembe and Chris Azubogu, the committee’s deputy chairman, collected first class tickets and estacode from SEC to attend a capital market conference in the Dominican Republic but did not use the money as approved and did not return it.

Following these allegations, Hembe and Azobogu withdraw from the probe and the House of Representatives thereby reassigned the investigation to an eight-member ad-hoc committee chaired by Ibrahim El-Sudi.

After the investigations, the House recommended that Oteh should be sacked as the DG of SEC for not possessing the requirements for the job.

They also passed a resolution not to make any appropriation to the commission in the 2013 fiscal period except Oteh was sacked.

Oteh announced Mounir Gwarzo, 52 as acting DG of SEC at a formal handover ceremony in the commission’s headquarters in Abuja Nigeria.