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 Modupe Gbadeyanka
The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.
The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.
At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.
According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.
It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.
The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.
The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.
As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.
Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.
Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.
On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.
Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.
In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.
The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.
Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.
In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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