SEC, EFCC to partner on market policing

Mr Mounir Gwarzo, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), says the body would partner with the EFCC to provide efficient and effective policing of the capital market.

Mr Naif Abdulsalam, SEC’s Head of Corporate Communications, said in a statement in Abuja on Sunday that Gwarzo made the pronouncement when the SEC management visited the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, in his office.

Gwarzo said there had been a close relationship between the SEC and EFCC, adding that the commission would not discharge its responsibility effectively without collaborating with the anti graft agency.

He said the provisions of the law mandated SEC to protect investors on developing the market while the structure of the law had limitations over criminal cases.

“ That is why in the last 10 years there has been a very great collaboration between both agencies.

” We hope that when this MoU becomes fully operational, it will assist in reducing market infractions to the barest minimum.

“The collaboration with the EFCC has been of tremendous benefit to SEC, especially in the areas of investigation and enforcement.

“And effective policing of the market is one of the ways of restoring investors’ confidence.

“One of our agenda is to bring back the retail investors to the market and there is no way they will agree to return if they are not sure of the safety of their investments,’’ the statement quoted Gwarzo as saying.

Responding, Magu expressed delight that the collaboration between both agencies had yielded enormous benefits for the growth of the capital market.

He added that his agency would continue to provide assistance where required.

Magu said the EFCC had been instrumental in investigating several cases of fraud in the capital market and recovered funds which were returned to investors.