Economy
Nigerian Stock Exchange Fines 11 Companies N48m for Infractions
By Dipo Olowookere
A total of 11 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have been sanctioned and asked to pay fines to the tune of N48 million in the first eight months of this year.
Most of the infractions committed by the affected firms were on the late submission of their financial statements to the exchange for the use of the investing public.
According to data obtained by Business Post from the NSE over the weekend, the first company to get into the book of wrongdoers was Access Bank Plc.
The lender was slammed with a fine of N2.2 million for N2.2 million for unauthorised publication of notice of board meeting and closed period. The issue involved the bank announcing a closed period and later cancelled it. When the closed period was reversed, its group managing director, Mr Herbert Wigwe, traded some of his shares in the company and this created rancour in the market.
Another company fined by the stock exchange was Greif Nigeria and this was for submitting its audited 2019 results for the year ended October 2019 in February 2020. The firm received a fine of N500,000 for this action.
Also, Deap Capital Management & Trust, which has its fiscal year ending in September, failed to file its audited 2019 reports on time and it was fined N3.8 million after doing the right thing in February, which the NSE believed was the wrong time. In addition, it received another N1.7 million fine for releasing its Q2 2020 results in July 2020, amounting to a total fine of N5.5 million.
Furthermore, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria received a fine of N700,000 for filing its third-quarter results for 2019 in February 2020, while Ellah Lakes was knocked with a N200,000 hammer for submitting its 2020 second-quarter results in March 2020.
In the period under review, African Alliance Insurance was punished by the NSE for filing its 2019 audited reports in July and this came with a N3.2 million fine. The underwriting firm was further fined N2.5 million for late submission of its first-quarter results for 2020, which it eventually did in July and another N400,000 for filing its Q2 2020 earnings in August.
Also, Conoil was hit with a sanction worth N400,000 for filing its Q2 2020 results in August.
Business Post reports that the NSE fined Universal Insurance N3.2 million for submitting its Q1 2020 earnings in July, another N3.2 million for submitting its Q1 2020 earnings in July and N400,000 for filing the Q2 2020 results in August.
Another company in the bad books of the NSE in the first eight months of 2020 was LASACO Assurance, which was fined N4.4 million for late submission of its audited 2019 reports. it got an additional N4.4 million fine for late filing of its first quarter of 2020 earnings and N1.7 million for filing the second quarter of 2020 earnings late. All the three results were submitted by the firm to the exchange in August.
Also, eTranzact International was slapped with a N1.9 million fine in the period under consideration for releasing its Q2 2020 earnings in August, while Royal Exchange was fined N5.4 million for filing its audited 2019 results in February, another N5.4 million for submitting its Q1 2020 earnings in February and N2.6 million for releasing its Q2 2020 results in August, amounting to a total of N13.4 million fine.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, 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 worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
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