The new Director General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, has stated that the capital market has a lot of potential for the country’s development after the Coronavirus Disease.
Yuguda assumed duties alongside the new executive commissioners – Reginald Karawusa, Ibrahim Boyi and Mr. Dayo Obisan – in Abuja on Monday.
The DG described the capital market as a crucial component of any economy, as the SEC, over the last two decades, had worked with other stakeholders to introduce and implement various initiatives targeted at improving the regulation and development of the market.
According to him, the capital market masterplan launched in 2014 would position the capital market for accelerated development of the national economy.
His words, “Many of the plan’s initiatives have been successfully implemented, while many others are work-in-progress in line with its objectives.
“Therefore, the continued implementation of the plan will be a major focus of the incoming management, while we also seek possible ways of strengthening it for enhanced impact. We would equally work towards improved market regulation, surveillance and general development.”
To do this effectively, we will need to develop relevant capacities and foster collaboration in achieving our mandates, he added.
Yuguda assured that the new management would work to the best of its abilities to uphold things on the ground and consciously seek ways to improve them to the benefit of stakeholders.
“Together we must set our sights on achieving those milestones that are capable of making the capital market a powerful engine of growth for the Nigerian economy. With God’s help and our collective resolve and dedication, we shall succeed,” he added.
He further stated that investor protection would be at the centre of the initiatives of the new management, warning that any operator that short-changed investors would not go scot-free.
“We want to assure investors that this market is for them and we are ready to do everything to ensure that we increase investor enlightenment through education, robust regulation and fair dealing
“For those that want to defraud investors, there would be no respite because we are ready to fight market manipulation to the last. Anyone that flouts our rules will be made to face the consequences of their actions,” he stated.
In her brief remarks before the hand-over, outgoing acting DG, Ms Mary Uduk, said the commission had, in the past few years, undertaken key reforms and achieved some regulatory millstones, expressing the hope that the new management would build on achievements recorded so far.
“In implementing the commission’s mandate of regulating and developing the Nigerian capital market, most of our recent activities are guided by the Capital Market Master Plan (2015-2025),” he noted.
