THE stock market, last week, witnessed up and down movements in major indices.For instance, the All-Share Index, which on Monday, June 11, closed at 21,183.34, rose to 21,298.63 on Wednesday, June 13. But on Thursday, June 14, profit taking attracted the bears to the market and this pulled it down to 21,184.58 on Friday. Market capitalisation similarly witnessed the same trend from N6.762tr on Monday to as high as N6.799tr on Wednesday and then dipped to N6.762tr on Friday. This translated to a loss of N37b in two days.During the week, the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had, at its 66th meeting, held on June 11, 2012, directed the Director-General, Ms. Arunma Oteh, to proceed on compulsory leave to enable an independent investigation to be undertaken in respect of the Project 50 programme,which was carried out by the Commission in 2011.The Executive Commissioner (Operations), Ms. Daisy Ekineh was assigned to act in her absence.In a statement, credited to Edosa Kennedy Aigbekaen, Secretary to the Commission, the decision of the Board was arrived at after consideration of the report of its Audit and Finance Committee, which had been directed to investigate the sources and uses of funds for the Project 50 event.The statement noted that amongst its conclusions, the Committee recommended an independent audit of Project 50 and that the key actors in the management of the funds should be asked to step aside to allow unhindered investigation.The Board also considered issues regarding the Council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and particularly the request of the Interim President of the Council that having stabilised the Exchange, they should be allowed to begin the process of disengagement.After due consideration, the Board approved this request but directed that it should be effected in an orderly manner.The Board also directed the Council to take steps to ensure that all legal issues affecting the effective functioning of the Council were addressed.The Management of the Commission was also directed to work out modalities for this disengagement with the Council.Investigation by The Guardian revealed that SEC's decision to suspend Oteh was influenced largely by revelations during the capital market probe by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee, which concluded the probe, particularly the one that revealed disharmony by Oteh and her executive commissioners.Market operators, who bared their minds on the developments in the market, last week, were unanimous in their opinion that what the SEC board did is good and that it would help to restore investors' confidence.According to them, the suspension of Oteh would help to stabilise the market because her appointment was political and was done contrary to the tradition for appointing a DG for the apex regulatory organ of the capital market.Said a source: 'The fact that she (Oteh) was brought from an exalted office, from an international financial institution, was not enough to qualify her to handle the sensitive and strategic position of SEC DG. Traditionally, that post has always been handled by people who are familiar with the market and who know the politics of the place.'Oteh's problem stemmed from the fact that she is not familiar with the market and because of this, she has been floating, and nobody was prepared to cooperate with her. Those who influenced her appointment could not come to her office to teach her how to do the job. She was not ready to humble herself to learn from those on the ground in the market. Her suspension would stabilise the place.'Another stockbroker, whose firm is a member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange who pleaded anonymity, said the removal was a good thing because, all along, market operators have been grumbling about such appointments.He said: 'The Exchange is not a government establishment. It is a private organisation that regulates itself for its own good and integrity. The organisation has its age-long laid down rules for appointing people to oversee its affairs. This tradition has kept it going all these years. The ugly development of government coming to the place this time around to appoint strange people to interfere is an aberration. The development sent a wrong signal to the investing public at large and this is one of the reasons the market is sickly and slow to recover.
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