Capital market operators yesterday expressed divergent views over the suspension of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director-General, Mr Mounir Gwarzo, for alleged financial impropriety by the Federal Government.
They told newsmen in Lagos that government needed to be transparent in investigating him to avoid destruction of investors’ confidence.
Former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, said that government should have conducted a thorough investigation of the matter before suspending the embattled director-general.
Unegbu said that “anything good for the market should be done in a transparent manner to avoid regrets at the end.”
He noted that the government had lost some corruption cases in the past due to shoddy investigation.
Unegbu, who commended the government’s stance on zero tolerance on corruption, said that the corruption fight should not be one-sided but all inclusive.
He said that zero tolerance should not be for only “small players while big players” were tolerated.
Unegbu said the market would likely react negatively to the suspension for the time being, noting that the market would stabilise in the long run.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., said the decision was a welcome development aimed at sanitising the country.
Omordion, however, said that government should take the corruption fight to all the three arms of government, civil service as well as the corporate sector.
He said that the suspension would not affect investors’ confidence but government’s decision and action after the investigation would determine investors’ next line of action.
Omordion said that it would be a big slap to the apex capital regulator if the allegations were proven to be true.
Mr Boniface Okezie, President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, described the suspension as a hasty decision considering that the market was still in recovery form.
Okezie said that the capital market had yet to recover from many years of government and regulators unguided pronouncements.
He said that the minister would have concluded investigations before making any pronouncement to avoid putting the market into another round of recession.
Okezie said that the Nigerian capital market had suffered untold hardship in the past.
He said that government should be very careful with the issue in order not to throw the market into unnecessary panic and investor loss of interest.
Our correspondent reports that Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Finance Minister, on November 29, suspended Gwarzo and set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him.
The minister said Gwarzo was suspended from office to allow for an unhindered investigation.
The minister also suspended two other senior staff of the commission, Abdulsalam Naif Habu, Head of Media Division and Anastasia Omozele Braimoh, Head of Legal Department.
The minister, according to a statement by the ministry’s Deputy Director Press, Patricia Deworitshe, said the panel of inquiry was saddled with the responsibility of investigating and determining the culpability of the director-general.
The SEC D-G was accused of collecting severance package worth N104.85 million while still in service in violation of the civil service rules.
Other allegations against him include the award of contracts to Medusa Investment and other companies to which he is related, thus resulting in a conflict of interest.
Gwarzo was directed to hand over to the most senior officer at the commission, pending the conclusion of the investigation.