SEC urges lawyers to refrain from unnecessary litigation against commission
NAN-HE-19
Litigation
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, Aug. 22, 2017 (NAN) Mr Mounir Gwarzo, the Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has appealed to lawyers to stop instituting unnecessary litigation on behalf of clients against the commission.
A statement on Tuesday in Abuja by Mr Naif Abdulsalam, Head of Corporate Communications, SEC, said Gwarzo made the appeal at the ongoing Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Lagos.
The break-out session had its theme as – Creating Secondary Market for Investors.
The director-general said if lawyers heeded the plea, it would facilitate the profession’s support for the commission’s mandate.
He said, “It will allow the commission to perform its statutory function and adequately protect investors with the aim to continuously develop the Nigerian capital market and the economy in general.”
Gwarzo referred the conference to a judicial pronouncement that “although lawyers owe a duty to their client, they however, owe a higher duty to a higher cause which is the cause of justice.’’
The DG also appealed to law firms to merge into large firms that would possess the capacity to be listed on the capital market.
The SEC boss advised legal practitioners to invest in the Nigerian capital market.
According to Gwarzo, steps have been put in place to ensure a reduction of both the explicit and implicit cost of transactions in the capital market.
He acknowledged that both explicit and implicit costs in Nigeria were higher than in peer countries, stressing that within a short period of time, the market would feel the effect of the reductions.
“To start with, there will be a hair cut on SEC, NSE, Issuing Houses and Receiving Agents fees at the primary issuance side.
“The four cost centres charge about 70 per cent to 80 per cent of flotation cost and the commission will be addressing the secondary market as well,’’ Gwarzo said.
Earlier, Mr Colin Coleman, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs South Africa, had observed the high quantum of transaction cost in the Nigerian capital market. (NAN)
LCN/AOS/IA
========
Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Idris Abdulrahman