FG to inaugurate SEC board Monday

The Federal Government will on Monday inaugurate the board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be chaired by Mr Olufemi Lijadu.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the board’s constitution is coming four years after President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the former SEC board headed by Mr Peter Obi.

A senior management source who pleaded anonymity confirmed the constitution and inauguration to NAN in Lagos.

The source said that the inauguration would take place at the Ministry of Finance Headquarters, Abuja, and would be conducted by the permanent secretary.

The source said that Lijadu, who hails from from Ogun, had been announced as the commission’s chairman.

According to him, other members of the board include Mr Lamido Yuguda from Gombe State (Non-executive Commissioner), Mrs Rekiya Ladi (Kaduna) Non-executive Commissioner and Mr Okokon Ekanem, representing Ministry of Finance.

The others include Dr Alvan Ikoku, representing the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ms Mary Uduk, SEC’s Acting Director-General, and Mr Henry Rowlands, SEC’s Acting Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services.

The other members of the board from SEC are Mr Isyaku Tilde, Acting Executive Commissioner (Operations), and Mr Reginald Karawusa, SEC’s Acting Executive Commissioner (Legal and Enforcement).

The board will have a four-year tenure, according to the source.

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved the previous board on July 16, 2015, and set up an eight-man panel headed by a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal, two months later, to reconstitute it.

Market operators had been calling for the reconstitution of the board to strengthen SEC’s operations.

The Chief Operating Officer, InvestData, Mr Ambrose Omordion, told the News Agency of Nigeria that non reconstitution of the board for over three years had implications for operational efficiency of the apex capital market regulator.

He said that the situation was affecting some operational activities of the commission, thereby dampening investor confidence.

Omorodion told NAN that SEC needed to be strengthened with appointment of board of directors for its growth and the development of the capital market.

Omorodion, who commended Uduk for achievements recorded so far in the commission in spite of being in acting capacity, called for her confirmation.

He said that the management team of the commission should be confirmed by the government with immediate effect to avoid excesses in the market.