The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that it is going hard on market operators engaging in unscrupulous activities.
The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that only fit and proper individuals are permitted to operate in Nigeria’s capital market to enhance investor protection.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja over the weekend, SEC Director-General Dr. Emomotimi Agama, stated: “It’s important that, as a form of self-regulation, they are aware beforehand that if you do what is not right, the SEC will bring you out to the world to say that you do not have character, because the very ethics of regulating or of registering a securities market operator is in the principle of the fit and proper person’s test. A fit and proper person’s test means that you satisfy all of the requirements that have been laid down in the Investments and Securities Act 2007 and in other regulations that the SEC has brought out to make sure that this happens.
“Disclosures by public companies will be very, very essential making sure that the investor has enough information to make decisions. If information is not provided, then that will be against the rules and regulations of the SEC and indeed, the ISA.
“So clearly for us, it is getting people to understand that there is no hiding place anymore for anybody that have an intention to defraud Nigerians and to defraud anybody that is investing in this market”.
Agama also emphasized that investor protection is a fundamental principle for the Commission in line with the provisions of its enabling law, with investor protection and market development as its twin priorities.
He added, “It is important to state clearly that every investor in Nigeria is under the cover of the SEC as long as the person operates within the Nigerian capital market. And so the year 2025 is a year where we say that there is zero tolerance for any activity that does not fall within the laws of the Investments and Securities Act 2007”.
