SEC Tasks Shareholders on Growth of Companies

Goddy Egene

The acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, has urged shareholders to increase their monitoring of companies with a view to contributing to their growth. Speaking at a seminar organised by Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) in Lagos on Wednesday, Gwarzo said shareholders should use the annual general meetings (AGM) of companies to effect positive change that would impact on performance.

Represented by the Head of Department Financial Standard & Corporate Governance, Mr. Edward Okolo, the SEC boss noted that the main duty of shareholders is to pass resolution at AGM by voting through their shareholding capacity.

This duty, he said, was particularly important as it allows the shareholders to exercise their ultimate control over the company and how it

their financial is managed.

According to him, the shareholders should understand that despite the fact the Board has been appointed to govern the activities of the company, they must also perform their own watchdog function by reviewing the audited reports and accounts prior to the meeting with a view to raising valid observations or criticism on key areas amongst others.

He pointed out that notwithstanding that companies hold AGMs to comply with requirements of the law, it has been observed that shareholders use AGM as a platform to make or take decisions that will impact positively in organisational wealth creation.

Meanwhile, the Guest Speaker, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, who spoke on the theme: “AGM as platform for value optimisation,” said AGM is the shareholders’ forum where they receive details of the company’s performance in the previous year and the outlook and plans for the ensuing year.