Economy
SEC DG Insists ‘My Suspension by Adeosun Illegal’
By Dipo Olowookere
The suspended Director-General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mounir Gwarzo, has maintained that his removal from office in November 2017 by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, did not follow due process.
Mr Gwarzo, while responding to a recent verdict of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market, which upheld his suspension, said the Minister erred in removing him from office without following the laid down rules.
The former capital market regulatory chief said if there was any arm of government that should be unhappy about the way and manner he was suspended, it should be the legislature “as the Minister of Finance acted against the provisions of ISA 2007 which is an Act of the National Assembly.”
In a statement personally signed by him, Mr Gwarzo said only President Muhammadu Buhari, who appointed him into office, has the power to remove him.
Below is his full letter.
Recent decisions by the Federal House of Representatives (The House) with respect to their public hearing and investigations on the cases against the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), some Directors of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and that against me with respect to my suspension as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are puzzling.
The House had at its sitting on the 18th of April 2018 while adopting the report of its Committee on Capital Market and Institutions headed by Rep Tajudeen Ayo Yusuf said that I indeed has a case to answer and that the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun was right to have suspended me it therefore stated that “the suspension of the Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo stands”.
I was suspended by the Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun on 29thNovember 2017. She based the suspension on petitions of corrupt practices and breaches of the public service rules levelled against me. However, at a public hearing before the House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions on January 30th, 2018, I noted that not only was due process not followed by the Minister prior to the suspension, she also lacked the authority to suspend me as this power lies solely on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria based on her recommendation and upon the confirmation from the senate as clearly captured in S5 (1) ISA 2007 which states that “the Director-General and the three full time Commissioners shall be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Minister and confirmation by the Senate.”
As S11 (1) of the Interpretation Act clearly states as follows, “Where an enactment confers a power to appoint a person either to an office or to exercise any functions, whether for a specified period or not, the power includes –
(a) power to appoint a person by name or to appoint the holder from time to time of a particular office;
(b) power to remove or suspend him.
The Minister in her letter based my suspension pursuant to the provisions of the Nigerian Public Service Rules (PSR) namely PSR 03405 and PSR 03406 however as I informed the public hearing, these provisions do not exist in Nigeria’s Public Service Rules and as we all know you can’t build something on nothing. What exist are PSR 030405 and PSR 030406.PSR 030405 merely provides for the responsibility of an interdicted officer or officer under suspension to make notification of his intention to leave his station or the country. While PSR 030406 requires a prima facie case to be established against an officer before he could be suspended. In my case,a prima facie case is yet to be established against me although I was invited by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) after my suspension.Also, the Minister only set up an Administrative Panel after my suspension inviting me to appear on 8 January 2018 over the same subject matter.
Furthermore, according to PSR 160103, the PSR would only apply to the SEC DG or any staff of SEC in the absence of any statute, manual, rules, procedures and practices regulating the Securities and Exchange Commission and its staff. It is important at this point to state that my letter of appointment as the DG specifically referred to the ISA 2007 – an Act of the National Assembly as the law governing my conditions of service. Thus all actions relating to my appointment must be in compliance with the ISA as anything outside same would amount to a nullity.
However, the same House on the recommendation of its Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness would at a sitting on the 20th of April 2018 direct the recall of the suspended Directors of NEMA because according to the Deputy Chairman of the Committee Hon. Ali Isa, investigations had shown that due process was not followed in their suspension and this is even after the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) informed The House that NEMA had based the suspension of the Directors following a recommendation by EFCC who had carried out investigations against the Directors following a petition they received in December 2017and had found them wanting.
A member of the Committee Hon. Gabriel Onyewife also noted that in the case of NEMA there was no evidence of fair hearing and no final judgement had been passed against them as investigation was still in progress, this position was supported by the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara who said that it was wrong to suspend someone without an opportunity for fair hearing.
In the case of the Executive Secretary NHIS who was suspended by the Minister of Health (but was reinstated 6 months later by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) while investigations against him were still ongoing, and before the release of the report of the Public Hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Services, the Chairman of the Committee Hon. Chike Okafor immediately moved a motion for his protection and immediate recall.
From the above it is obvious that the position of the House that my suspension as the DG, SEC was in order on the mere ground that I had a case to answer when it is clearly obvious that due process was not followed in my caseleaves a lot to be desired.
Recently, the Federal Government through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in the case of the purported suspension of the Director-General, National Women Development Centre, carried out by the centre’s Governing Board which the Federal Government termed as an illegal act and directed the DG to resume her duties immediately.
Part of the statement read as follows, “The Boards and Chief Executive Officers are all appointed by Mr. President, according to stated terms and conditions with clearly established rules and procedures for subjecting Chief Executive Officers to disciplinary measures including suspension from office. In this respect, this process has not been followed.
Government believes in due process, and will not tolerate any arbitrary action taken by any Board of any Federal Government Agency.”
Finally if there is any arm of Government that should be unhappy about the way and manner I was suspended it should be the Legislature as the Minister of Finance acted against the provisions of ISA 2007 which is an Act of the National Assembly.
Mounir Gwarzo
Abuja, Nigeria
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended in the green territory on Monday, with a 1.20 per cent rise.
This was buoyed by the gains recorded by Airtel Africa and other equities, according to analysis of data harvested from the Customs Street yesterday.
During the trading day, the consumer goods index grew by 0.76 per cent, enough to offset the losses recorded by the other sectors.
The insurance counter shrank by 1.64 per cent, the banking space lost 0.24 per cent, the energy sector contracted by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods segment retreated by 0.05 per cent.
When trading activities ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 2,956.15 points to 248,529.75 points from 245,573.60 points, and the market capitalisation gained N1.909 trillion to finish at N160.422 trillion compared with the previous session’s N158.513 trillion.
Fortis Global Insurance expanded by 10.00 per cent to N2.86, Chams surged by 9.80 per cent to N4.48, NAHCO jumped by 9.29 per cent to N153.00, Airtel Africa soared by 8.59 per cent to N6,300.00, and Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 6.59 per cent to N1.78.
Conversely, AVA Capital shed 10.00 per cent to N9.90, Ecobank decreased by 9.92 per cent to N64.95, Caverton crashed by 9.09 per cent to N5.00, Ikeja Hotel slipped by 8.41 per cent to N43.00, and FTN Cocoa dropped 8.37 per cent to trade at N8.10.
A total of 23 equities were on the gainers’ chart yesterday, while 37 equities ended on the losers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
As for the activity log, the trading volume remained elevated, though lower than the preceding session, as it receded by 26.67 per cent to 1.1 billion units from 1.5 billion units. The trading value, however, increased by 1.12 per cent to N27.0 billion from N26.7 billion, while the number of deals advanced by 39.00 per cent to 59,185 deals from 42,580 deals.
Consolidated Hallmark was the most active stock yesterday, with a turnover of 354.1 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Fortis Global Insurance traded 307.3 million units worth N818.3 million, Access Holdings exchanged 48.1 million units for N1.4 billion, Chams transacted 37.4 million units worth N163.3 million, and First Holdco sold 35.8 million units valued at N5.1 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices traded 5 per cent higher on Monday after Iran and the United States argued about demands for compensation, further stalling a possible deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures chalked up $4.17 or 4.99 per cent to sell at $87.72 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures surged $3.95 or 5.05 per cent to $82.13 per barrel.
Iran said the US must lift sanctions on it and meet other conditions for reopening the vital waterway, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the start of the Middle East conflict in late February.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Iran must pay compensation for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded.”
This comes as the Middle East country said it was nearing a final pact with Oman to define new shipping lanes through the strait but repeated that the US must meet other conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats before the strategic waterway is reopened.
In a further threat to supply, the Iran-aligned Houthis said they had struck Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday. Saudi Aramco has postponed the restart of the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery to August 30 after two Houthi attacks in recent weeks.
ADNOC, a state-owned oil company in the United Arab Emirates, said on Friday that 15 of its vessels had been attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military continued to attack Russia’s energy infrastructure, hitting the Taneco oil refinery in Tatarstan and the ZapSibNeftekhim petrochemical plant in Russia’s Tyumen region.
On the US supply side, stocks of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell by about 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million barrels last week, the lowest level since January 1983.
Bank of America (BoFA) warned that oil prices could continue climbing into the winter if the US and Iran fail to reach an agreement reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with severe shortages already emerging in diesel, petrol, and global natural gas markets.
Mr Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of commodities and derivatives research, told CNBC on Monday that only around 5 to 10 ships per day are currently passing through Hormuz, compared with roughly 140 before the war. With some crude now being rerouted through Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traffic would need to recover to around 80 to 100 ships per day just to stabilise energy markets.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions has called for stronger collaboration among financial sector regulators and other stakeholders to strengthen Nigeria’s financial system and support sustainable economic growth.
The committee made the call during an expanded stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos, attended by the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), among other industry stakeholders and financial experts.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East), who was represented by Mr Osita Izunaso (Imo West), said stronger legislative reforms and regulatory collaboration were necessary to reposition Nigeria’s financial architecture for long-term economic prosperity.
Mr Abiru said the financial sector remained critical to investment, job creation, business expansion and macroeconomic stability, stressing that its ability to mobilise savings, channel credit to productive sectors, facilitate investment and manage risks was fundamental to sustainable economic growth.
He said the current economic realities required closer collaboration between the legislature and financial regulators, noting that challenges confronting the sector were interconnected and could not be effectively addressed through isolated interventions.
The lawmaker identified inflationary pressures, global economic uncertainties, cybersecurity threats, low insurance penetration and the need to diversify Nigeria’s export base as some of the challenges requiring coordinated policy responses.
He said the engagement was aimed at generating practical solutions to strengthen the country’s financial architecture and support sustainable economic growth.
According to him, monetary policy, financial safety nets, banking institutions, the insurance industry and export finance were interdependent components of a stable financial system and must therefore be strengthened collectively.
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, said the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 had contributed significantly to stabilising and repositioning the insurance sector.
Mr Omosehin disclosed that 43 insurance companies had successfully recapitalised, describing the development as a major milestone for the industry.
He commended Abiru and members of the committee for their role in advancing insurance sector reforms and urged the House of Representatives to expedite action on the relevant insurance reform bill to enable it to receive presidential assent and become operational.
Representatives of the CBN Governor and the Managing Directors of AMCON, NEXIM and NDIC also commended the Senate committee for its oversight and legislative support, saying its interventions had strengthened the agencies’ capacity to discharge their statutory mandates.
The engagement, held under the theme, Strengthening Financial System Architecture for Sustainable Economic Growth and Stability in Nigeria, also featured presentations by Professor Uche Uwaleke, President of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (CMAN); Professor Biodun Adedipe, Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited; and Dr Tilewa Adebajo, Chief Executive Officer of CFG Advisory.
The experts presented policy recommendations on key issues affecting Nigeria’s financial system, with emphasis on financial stability, investment and sustainable economic growth.
Mr Abiru said the Senate would continue to engage financial regulators and other stakeholders to deepen financial inclusion, strengthen public confidence in financial institutions and improve regulatory effectiveness.
He said the broader objective was to position Nigeria’s financial system to compete more effectively in the global economy while remaining resilient and responsive to the country’s economic transformation agenda.
