Yuguda assumes office as SEC DG, promises investor protection

The new Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Lamido Yuguda, has formally assumed office.

In a statement, the Head, Corporate Communications, of the commission, Mrs. Efe Ebelo, quoted the new DG as saying during the handing over ceremony that “investor protection” would be at the centre of the initiatives of the new management, warning that “any operator that shortchanges investors would not go scot-free.”

The DG said, “We want to assure investors that this market is for them and we are ready to do everything to ensure that we increase investor enlightenment through education, robust regulation and fair dealing.

“For those that want to defraud investors, there would be no respite because we are ready to fight market manipulation to the last, anyone that flouts our rules will be made to face the consequences of their actions.”

The SEC DG noted that the capital market was a crucial component of any economy and that the SEC over the last two decades had worked with other relevant stakeholders to introduce and implement various initiatives targeted at improving the regulation and development of the market.

According to him, the capital market master plan launched in 2014, has the objective of positioning the capital market for an accelerated development of the national economy.

In her brief remarks before the handover, the outgoing acting Director General, Ms. Mary Uduk, said the commission had in the past few years undertaken key reforms and achieved some regulatory milestones and expressed the hope that the new management would build on achievements recorded so far.

Yuguda resumed on Monday together with three Executive Commissioners: Mr. Reginald Karawusa, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi and Mr. Dayo Obisan.