Business
Bonuses: Former NSE Officials Refund N607m
The Nigerian Stock Exchange has recovered N607 million out of the N1.39 billion shared by former council members as bonuses between 2006 and 2008.
Reports say that N783.8 million is still outstanding.
The 2010 annual report of the NSE, made available to reporters in Lagos on Wednesday, indicated that the refunds were being kept in an Escrow account in First City Monument Bank.
According to the report, the outstanding balance of N783.8 million has been caught up in the series of litigation that arose from the ongoing reform of the NSE.
Some current council members, who pleaded anonymity, say that only 16 out of former 22 council members refunded their own “largesse.”
They told The Tide source, that they were only concerned with restoring the Exchange to the era of sustainable returns on investment and growing the investor confidence.
An official of the NSE dismissed repeated enquiries on the refund of the funds, saying that the NSE new helsman, Mr Oscar Onyema, was only interested in how to move the exchange forward.
According to them, Onyema’s major concern is boosting investor confidence and introducing new products that will deepen the market.
It will be recalled that the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 removed Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke as Director-General of NSE and ordered a forensic audit of accounts of the exchange.
Initial report of the audit revealed that former council members shared N1.39 billion as productivity/surplus bonuses between 2006 and 2008.
SEC directed that the shared funds should be refunded as the former council members acted against tenets of section 26(3) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.
A breakdown of largesse showed that 18 members shared N160.8 million in 2006 while N710 million was shared by 16 members in 2007.
In the same vein, 18 former members shared N480m in 2008.