The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to curb market infractions by operators. The Commission also reaffirmed its commitment to provide an efficient and effective policing of the Nigerian capital market.
Director-General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo, made the commitment recently when the Management of the Commission paid a visit to the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, in Abuja. Gwarzo said that SEC and EFCC have been enjoying a robust relationship. He explained that SEC cannot discharge its responsibilities effectively without collaborating with the anti-graft agency. “We are by provision of our law mandated to protect investors on developing the market but the way our law is structured we have limitations over criminal cases and that is why in the last 10 years there has been a very great collaboration between both agencies. We hope that when his MoU becomes fully operational it will assist in reducing market infractions to the barest minimum,” Gwarzo said.
He noted that the collaboration with the EFCC has been of tremendous benefit to the SEC especially in areas of investigation and enforcement, adding that effective policing of the market is one of the ways of boosting confidence of investors. “One of our agenda is to bring back the retail investors to the market and there is no way they will agree to return if they are not sure of the safety of their investments,” Gwarzo said.
Magu expressed delight that the collaboration between both agencies has yielded benefits for the growth of the capital market, adding that his agency will continue to provide assistance where required. Magu said the EFCC has been instrumental in investigating several cases of fraud in the capital market and recovered funds which were returned to investors and assured the SEC of the agency’s continued support.