Economy
Shareholder Drags Continental Reinsurance CEO to Court
By Dipo Olowookere
Managing Director of Continental Reinsurance Plc, Mr Femi Oyetunji, has been dragged before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos by a shareholder of the company.
The aggrieved shareholder identified as Mr Maduka Kanma Okafor alleged that the Managing Director has been running the firm without following due process.
Mr Okafor, who claimed to have 19,890,013 shares in Continental Reinsurance Plc, said he was relieved of his position as Deputy General Manager, in charge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department of the insurer in August 2016 by Mr Oyetunji.
In the suit filed by his counsel, Sonnie Ekwowusi, with five directors of the company joined as co-respondents, the petitioner said he practically built the company’s ICT from the scratch with so many positive ground breaking records from when he was employed in July 1993.
However, Mr Okafor alleged further that when Dr Oyetunji joined the company in January 2010 and became its group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, he went all out to dismantle the cost saving mechanisms of the company as well as abolish the pre -existing progressive structure and Corporate Governance structure system set up by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the board of the company, by always favouring a South African company called Dimension Data to execute the ICT contract of the company even though the tender of the South African company was unbelievably high and its solutions non-futuristic and often not the best.
Mr Okafor stated that because of Dr Oyetunji’s personal interest in favour of Dimension Data and its subsidiary namely Internet Solution mentioned some particular projects which were executed to the detriment of the insurance company and its shareholders.
In the year 2016, Dr Oyetunji was alleged to have paid three extra budgetary bill in quick succession to Dimension Data to repeat the ICT audit which was earlier successfully completed, in excess of $100,000 followed by another $12,000 and another N12,825,000 all unbudgeted and unjustifiable.
It was further alleged that around the year 2012, Dr Oyetunji cause the finance department of Continental Reinsurance company to give a personal loan an unsecured one at that in the sum of N12 million to his friend and proprietor of the Ember Creek Night Club, Mr Abbey Ford.
He claimed the loan was not repaid, rather expectedly, it was written off.
However, following the Petitioner’s lawyer letter to the board of the insurance company in the last quarter of 2016, the board investigated and affirmed that Dr Oyetunji indeed illegally gave the aforesaid loan and consequently, the board has since ordered that the money be recovered by him.
When Dr Oyetunji was employed in 2010 by the company, the board approved the sum of N20 million to purchase two company vehicles for the use of the company.
This amount at that time was appropriate and sufficiently budgeted to purchase a v8 Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota Avensis 2.0 liter engine vehicles, but he chose to purchase a Range Rover Vogue, which cost less than about N18 million, the petitioner alleged.
He then demanded and got the balance of N2 million in cash and further brought in one of his used cars, (a Honda Pilot) which had been in use for so many years, and put it in the maintainance pool as his second entitled car. In acting in this manner, he did not seek any authorization from the board of directors of the company, Mr Okafor alleged further in his petition.
He said the illegally, oppressive, discriminating and high-handedness of Dr Oyetunji at the company to the acquiesce of the board of Directors became so unbearable that one Mr Abdul-Rasheed Akolade, who was Senior Manager (Life) at the company at that time had to tender his letter of resignation. In his email, he said he was resigning because of the illegality and abuse of corporate governance at the insurance company.
In violation of corporate governance to the detriment of the shareholding interest of the petitioner, the Managing Director exclusively diverted the catering services of the company and all soft supplies and sundry contrast to his sister/cousin namely, Folake Oyetunji, who also signs as Folake Adesanya through her various business names at patently uncompetitive prices, Folake Oyetunji, without proper bidding, variously was awarded contracts by the Managing Director, he alleged.
According to him, all the decision presented to the board of the company as management decisions are never discussed by the management.
Mr Okafor averred that he has invested about 20 million shares in the Continental Reinsurance company, which constitute a significant part of his life savings and investment and that if unnecessary wastages and eroding of the reserve of the company by the Managing Director as averred above are remain unchecked, the petitioner would loose all his live savings and investment in the company.
Consequently, Mr Okafor prays the court as follows :
A declaration that Dr Oyetunji, contrary to the memorandum and articles of Continental Reinsurance Plc, runs the company in a manner that is illegal, oppressive and unfairly prejudicial and discriminatory to him.
An order directing Dr Oyetunji to account for all the personal profits and unnecessary benefits derived by him in the course of his management of the company
An order directing an investigation /inquiry to be made into the management and affairs of the company by the Managing Director.
However, in a counter affidavit against the petition sworn to by the Head, Human Resources and Admin Department of Continental Reinsurance, Dr Segun Ajibewa, and filed before the court by Barrister Olayemi Badewole, the deponent, while denying almost all the deposition of Mr Okafor, averred that the petitioner lack credible evidence to support this petition.
He also contended that the petition is an abused of court process as the petitioner had earlier filed a petition before the court which was dismissed with a cost of N50,000.
Dr Ajibewa further averred that the petitioner lacks the legal capacity to institute this petition seeking reliefs for the benefit of the company.
The petitioner was fairly treated as he was paid his severance package timely, but the petitioner upon the disengagement of his employment acted contrary to his duty to maintain confidentiality of the company’s corporate information and disclosed sensitive corporate information of the company’s business operations, management and board to his lawyer.
Meanwhile, the presiding judge has adjourned till June 4, 2018 for hearing.
Additional information from Today.ng
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.
