Economy
CACOL Defends Corruption Petition Against Suspended SEC DG
By Dipo Olowookere
A non-political, non-religious, and non-profit making organization, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), which filed a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the suspended Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Mournir Haliru Gwarzo, has visited the anti-graft agency to defend its allegations against the SEC boss.
A statement signed on Monday by the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Comrade Debo Adeniran, disclosed that the visit was sequel to an invitation to the group by the EFCC on the petition of corruption levelled against Mr Gwarzo.
It was gathered that Mr Adeniran spent about an hour at the EFCC’s office in Abuja, where he met with the Head of investigating team at the Capital Market Unit of the EFCC.
“We responded to the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC today (Monday) to adopt (defend) our petition against Mr Gwarzo.
“We are delighted that the EFCC responded promptly, and is enthusiastic to investigate the subject of our petition. We intend to follow through with this process and we will not be distracted by all the attempts by Mr Gwarzo and his cronies to make us back down drawing on absurd and unconnected straws to whip up sentiment in the media.
“Those who know us know we do not just take up a cause, when we do, we are tenacious in our pursuit and we approach our campaigns with independence of mind,” the CACOL boss was quoted as saying in the statement.
Mr Adeniran further disclosed that the allegations against Mr Gwarzo have been before various people in government for months unattended to until CACOL took up the issue.
“We commend the Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun for the courage to take the issue up after others have looked the other way for months. We urge her to be steadfast in the face of various attempts to blackmail her into dropping the investigations into the allegations.
“If she musters the tenacity to follow through on this investigation as she did with fighting the cabal behind the ghost workers who almost bled the nation to death with false wage bills, then history would be kind to her,” he said.
Comrade Adeniran further disclosed that even as CACOL was preparing to make its defence appearance before the EFCC, it has just received more mind boggling documents relating to various corrupt practices by the Mr Gwarzo.
It will be recalled that the organization, CACOL, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the relevant Committees in the Senate and House of Representatives and the various anti-corruption agencies to order a thorough audit of the finances of the Commission under Mr Gwarzo following the allegations of corruption.
The DG is alleged to have engaged in series of anti-establishment manipulations to enrich himself through acts that are at variance with civil service rules and regulations.
It was alleged that Mr Gwarzo has been running SEC as his personal business and appoints companies with links to him and some of his cronies in office as contractors who provide services to the Commission.
Some of the companies listed to have links with Mr Gwarzo, his wife and other cronies are: Outbound Investment Ltd, RC NO. 807317; Medusa Investments Limited, RC NO. 326829; Northwind Environmental Services. REG NO BN2389176; and Micro-Technologies LTD RC NO. 173805.
Others are Tida International Ltd RC NO. 26414; Outlook Communications; AcromacNig Ltd RC NO. 10687864; Balfort International Investment Ltd RC NO. 109153; and Interactiven Worldwide Nigeria Ltd RC NO. 779442.
On January 2, 2013, Mr Gwarzo was appointed an Executive Commissioner in the Securities and Exchange Commission for a four-year tenure. Before the expiration of the four-year deal, Mr Gwarzo was elevated as the Director General of the Commission on May 22, 2015.
But consequent upon resumption of office as the Director General of SEC, Mr Gwarzo ordered the payment of a severance benefit to himself to the tune of N104.9 million.
Comrade Adeniran restated the call on President Muhammadu Buhari to take immediate steps to constitute a Board for the Securities and Exchange Commission as provided for in the extant laws establishing the Commission.
“The Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 which gives the Commission its current powers also made a provision for the appointment of a nine (9) member Board to be headed by a Chairman. The idea of the Board is to, amongst other things, ensure that no Director General of the Commission can become a law onto himself or herself and act without appropriate checks by the Board” President Buhari must ensure this is done without further delay,” he said.
Considering the high probability of atrocities being committed unchecked under the present circumstance in which the SEC has functioned without a Board, CACOL called on President Muhammadu Buhari through the Finance Minister to order a thorough audit of the finances of the Commission and penalize everyone found guilty of fraudulent activities.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Okitipupa Plc was the sole price gainer at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, August 7, lifting the trading platform by 0.44 per cent at the close of transactions.
The share price of the palm oil producer appreciated during the trading session by N25.00 or 9.0 per cent to N277.00 per unit compared with the previous day’s N252.00 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation gained N12.29 billion to close at N2,807 trillion, in contrast to the previous session’s N2.795 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) added 93.63 points to finish at 4,678.08 points compared with Thursday’s 4,657.59 points.
The bourse recorded a price loser yesterday, and this was Mass Telecoms Innovation Plc, which crashed by 3 Kobo or 9.4 per cent to settle at 32 Kobo per share versus the previous day’s 35 Kobo per share.
The volume of securities traded by investors plunged by 81.5 per cent to 535,7560 units from 2.9 million units, the value of securities slumped by 93.9 per cent to N6.0 million from N99.2 million, and the number of deals decreased by 41.9 per cent to 36 deals from 62 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 77.0 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.15 per cent growth was achieved by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, driven by continued buying interest in banking stocks such as First Holdco and others.
The banking index was up by 1.53 per cent during the session, offsetting the losses recorded by the others. The industrial goods segment fell by 0.37 per cent, the insurance counter shrank by 0.21 per cent, and the energy sector contracted by 0.04 per cent, while the consumer goods space closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 364.26 points to 245,573.60 points from 245,209.34 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N235 billion to N158.513 trillion from N158.278 trillion.
Despite the gains printed by Customs Street during the trading day, investor sentiment was weak, as there were 22 price gainers and 24 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UPDC surged by 9.23 per cent to N3.55, CWG soared by 6.56 per cent to N19.50, AXA Mansard appreciated by 4.80 per cent to N13.10, Neimeth advanced by 4.24 per cent to N8.60, and Cutix improved by 4.00 per cent to N2.60.
Conversely, Red Star Express lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N18.00, CAP declined by 9.98 per cent to N115.45, John Holt shrank by 9.82 per cent to N10.10, ABC Transport depreciated by 9.57 per cent to N5.20, and Legend Internet crashed by 8.70 per cent to N4.20.
A total of 1.5 billion equities worth N26.7 billion exchanged hands in 42,580 deals on Friday versus the 531.8 million equities valued at N20.5 billion traded in 44,826 deals on Thursday, representing a spike in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 182.06 per cent, 30.24 per cent, and 5.01 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock during the session was Fortis Global Insurance, with a turnover of 824.5 million units valued at N2.1 billion, FCMB traded 217.9 million units worth N2.8 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 176.2 million units for N4.7 billion, Chams sold 32.5 million units worth N132.1 million, and First Holdco transacted 25.0 million units valued at N3.7 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further closed south against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, August 7, by 81 Kobo or 0.06 per cent to N1,365.69/$1 from N1,364.88/$1.
It was a similar situation for the Nigerian Naira in the official market during the session as against the Pound Sterling; it lost N1.08 to quote at N1,839.17 versus the previous day’s N1,838.09/£1, and against the Euro, it slipped by N1.23 to close at N1,575.73/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,574.80/€1.
Further, at the GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency weakened against the Dollar yesterday by N2 to settle at N1,371/$1 compared with Thursday’s N1,369/$1, and at the black market, it traded flat at N1,400/$1.
The country’s legal tender came under FX demand pressure on Friday, with turnover rising by 304.3 per cent to $399.5 million from $98.8 million the previous day, with the number of deals slightly up to 107 from 106.
Next week, traders expect the Naira to hold steady, buoyed by dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), whose presence in the market could help ease demand pressure.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) neared the $65,000-mark after it gained 0.8 per cent to trade at $64,968.05, as investors took advantage of recent drops to shore up their holdings.
Previously, the decision by the US Senate to delay a vote on the Crypto Clarity Act until at least September weakened the outlook. The bill, which would set out which US regulator oversees which digital assets, needs 60 votes to pass and it is unclear whether it currently has 50.
Solana (SOL) grew by 2.5 per cent to $74.81, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 1.3 per cent to $0.0702, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 1.1 per cent to $593.80, Ethereum (ETH) expanded by 0.5 per cent to $1,916.08, Ripple (XRP) also soared by 0.5 per cent to $1.03, and TRON (TRX) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to $0.3275.
However, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.1997, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
