Economy
Investors Lambast SEC for Double-Standards
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Investors in the Nigerian capital market have slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failing the corporate governance test it punishes players in the sector for.
According to a report by The Nation, the apex industry regulator has not published its yearly reports and accounts for four years.
The last annual reports and accounts of the commission was for the year ended December 31, 2013, halting a tradition that had seen SEC publishing its annual reports yearly for more than a decade.
However, any company listed on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which fails to file its earnings is heavily fined by the regulators and sometimes suspended from trading.
According to The Nation, the failure of SEC to publish its financial statements is a violation of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, Code of Corporate Governance and extant rules at the capital market.
Asked why SEC has been unable to prepare and publish annual reports and accounts and whether the failure to publish annual reports for years will not undermine the moral authority of the agency, SEC’s Corporate Communication Department requested for “some time” to respond. It has not responded for more than three weeks.
Those who spoke on the matter on condition of anonymity, because they were under the regulatory purview of SEC, decried what they described as double-standards of the regulator.
A survey of stakeholders, including shareholders, capital market operators and quoted companies, was unanimous that the inability of SEC to publish its annual reports and accounts annually was a major failure that exposes capital market to ridicule in the comity of international markets.
Both the SEC and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) enforce stringent disclosure and transparency rules that include submission of quarterly and annual reports within stipulated timelines, with penalties for violation including monetary fine, suspension of trading, “naming and shaming” and in the extreme cases, delisting of such violators. The NSE has meanwhile maintained publication of its annual report and holding of annual general meeting.
A source blamed the failure on “some internal challenges”, including the absence of a board for the Commission. However, the failure to publish yearly report predated the dissolution of the board of the Commission in 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
According to ISA, the board of SEC is responsible for the financial management of the Commission. The ISA stipulates that the Commission shall cause to be kept, proper books of records and accounts “which shall be audited by auditors appointed by the board of the Commission”.
ISA requires SEC to, not later than three months after the end of each year, submit to the Minister and the National Assembly, a report on the activities and administration of the Commission during the immediately preceding year and, shall include in such reports, audited accounts of the Commission and the report of the Auditor on the accounts.
Existing rules at SEC requires capital market operators to file their annual reports and accounts “not later than six months after the end of the accounting year” and “where a market operator fails to file quarterly returns twice in a year and nine months after the annual accounts becomes due, the market operator shall be referred for further enforcement action”.
SEC is proposing to tighten the rules by reducing the submission period to three months, citing the need to harmonise the rules with the requirements at the NSE.
In justifying the reduction of the period to three months, SEC noted that “the current practice is not in tune with the risk-based approach to monitoring of capital market operators (CMOs) and the information required may have become obsolete six months after the accounting year of a CMO”.
Corporate governance rules at the stock market require quoted companies to submit their audited annual reports, not later than 90 calendar days, or three months, after the expiration of the period.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude production under the collective Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) fell in May to its lowest level in at least 37 years as the blockade of Iran by the United States and disruptions in the Persian Gulf, continued to limit output.
According to a Bloomberg survey released on Friday, output from the organisation’s 11 current members, including Nigeria, dropped by 1.22 million barrels per day to 16.33 million barrels per day last month.
Iran accounted for more than half of the decline. The data excludes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which departed the cartel last month after six decades of membership.
War between a US-Israeli alliance and Iran has reduced oil supplies from the Middle East, largely closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait have been forced to cut crude production. Iranian shipments face additional pressure following a US blockade of its ports imposed in mid-April.
Iranian output fell by 710,000 barrels per day to a five-year low of 2.34 million barrels per day in May, the survey showed. Central Command reported that US forces have redirected 127 commercial vessels to enforce the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports.
Kuwait recorded the second-largest decline last month, with production falling by 310,000 barrels per day to 490,000 barrels per day, less than one-fifth of pre-war levels. Saudi Arabia, the group’s leader, saw output decrease by 240,000 barrels per day to 6.57 million barrels per day.
The production reductions have not prevented OPEC and its allies from raising quotas over recent months, continuing a year-long process of restoring output halted several years ago.
This comes ahead of a meeting scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 7, where a sub-group of seven members is expected to increase targets by 188,000 barrels again in July. The session is one of four online meetings OPEC and its partners plan to hold that day.
Delegates indicated the alliance has plans for two additional monthly quota increases in August and September. UAE output rose by 300,000 barrels per day to 2.44 million barrels per day in May, according to the survey.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 2025 third quarter Budget Implementation Report from the Budget Office of the Federation has shown that the federal government exceeded the funds allocation for repayment of debts for the first nine months of the fiscal year by about 18 per cent.
In a report by Punch, the sum of N10.74 trillion was budgeted for debt servicing between January and September 2025, but the government used N12.63 trillion for the purpose, N1.90 trillion or 17.65 per cent more than the allocation for the year.
The funds were spent on domestic debts, foreign debts and sinking fund by the central government in nine months.
Business Post reports that for the whole year, the amount approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu for debt repayments was N14.31 trillion.
Looking at the nine-month figures, domestic debt service gulped N6.23 trillion, exceeding its N5.39 trillion provision, while foreign debt service was N6.30 trillion versus the budget provision of N5.06 trillion.
According to the report, the figures indicated that 67.2 per cent of the federal government’s retained revenue of N18.63 trillion was spent on debt service in the first nine months of 2025. When the sinking fund is included, debt-related payments consumed about 67.8 per cent of revenue.
It was also observed that aggregate federal government revenue underperformed the budget by N12.03 trillion or 39.24 per cent, as actual revenue of N18.63 trillion fell short of the N30.67 trillion projected for the first three quarters.
In the third quarter alone, the government generated N7.70 trillion versus the quarterly target of N10.22 trillion as a result of persistent oil revenue shortfalls, despite stronger non-oil collections.
The debt burden also crowded out capital spending, as total capital expenditure was N3.10 trillion in the first nine months compared with the N17.58 trillion budgeted for the period, indicating that actual debt-related payments were more than four times capital expenditure.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a loss of 1.13 per cent on Thursday, June 4, shrinking the market capitalisation by N30.03 billion to N2.630 trillion from N2.660 trillion on Wednesday.
Similarly, this brought down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 50.19 points to 4,396.08 points from the 4,446.27 points recorded a day earlier.
The loss was influenced by the overpowering of the bulls by the bears, after the bourse closed with two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped by N20.03 to sell at N190.38 per unit compared with midweek’s N210.41 per unit. Food Concepts Plc declined by 25 Kobo to trade at N2.50 per share versus the previous day’s N3.00 per share, and Acorn Petroleum Plc crumbled by 2 Kobo to end at N1.32 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.34 per unit.
For the gainers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added N2.93 to close at N78.34 per share compared with the previous price of N75.41 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 80 Kobo to settle at N16.80 per unit versus N16.00 per unit.
There was a slip in the volume of transactions yesterday by 46.8 per cent to 280,714 units from 527,221 units, as the value of trades dropped 66.5 per cent to N21.8 million from the preceding session’s N64.2 million, and the number of deals fell by 8.7 per cent to 42 deals from 46 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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