Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, has called for an effective dispute resolution mechanism to deepen the capital market.
Speaking at an event organised by the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) in collaboration with the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Mr Yuguda said this could trigger economic growth and improve investors’ confidence.
At the workshop themed Law, Practice and Procedure of the IST, he said the programme was important for legal practitioners who appear before the IST on behalf of their clients and lawyers who generally practice in the capital market.
The DG, represented by the Executive Commissioner for Legal and Enforcement of SEC, Mr Reginald Karawusa, said, “Lawyers play very prominent roles in the capital market and as such should not only how to structure transactions but also have a clear knowledge of the procedure and the practices of appearing before the IST.”
He said the workshop will, among others, discuss topical issues such as The status, jurisdiction and power of the Tribunal; Transactions and dispute resolution in the Nigeria capital market; The role of lawyers and panel discussions on these all-important topics.
“I commend the organizers of this workshop and assure the bar and the IST that the commission would be ready to support them and also share in the knowledge and experience this workshop will produce since it is lawyers frequently appear before the tribunal,” he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of IST, Mr Amos Azi, said that by the Securities And Exchange Commission Act of 1988, the Federal High Court was vested with jurisdiction over violations arising from capital market transactions.
Mr Azi said pursuant to the said Act, the SEC established the Administrative Hearing Proceedings Committee to resolve capital market disputes, and appeals lay therefrom to the Federal High Court.
“Unfortunately, the Federal High Courts were largely unable to appreciate the peculiar nature of the capital market, being as it were very time sensitive. Investors’ confidence was not particularly helped by the delays encountered in the resolution of their disputes in the conventional courts as the transactions in the market increased, thereby impacting negatively on investors’ confidence vis-a-vis market performance,” he said.
The IST Chairman said mindful of the need to be responsive to an ever-evolving market, the Tribunal reviewed its Procedure Rules, which were exposed to stakeholders for necessary inputs.
“The new rules, which incorporated the use of technology and other trends in the market in the Tribunal’s proceedings, further addressed all observed lacunae in the reviewed rules.
