SEC to step up investor education

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The Securities and Exchange Commission has restated its commitment to continue to educate and enlighten investors in a bid to ensure they make informed investment decisions.

This was stated by Head, Office of the Chief Economist of the SEC, Dr. Okey Umeano during an interview in Abuja.

Umeano stated that the upsurge in the activities of illegal fund managers in recent times has been a source of worry to the Commission and assured investors that the SEC is working hard along with other government agencies to reduce their activities to the barest minimum.

According to Umeano, “This is an area that we are doing a lot and still have a lot to do. If you look at the Capital Market master plan, you will see that a lot of the things we want to do revolves around investor education. In investor education, what we tell investors is how to know who is genuine and it is very simple.

“Just go to the sec.gov.ng you can just on the search portal type CMO. The search portal comes out and you type the name of the firm marketing to you, if it is not there then it is not registered with SEC that means you are not protected. You are not covered by that investor protection that I am talking about. Those who are marketing financial products, investment related financial products must come to SEC and be registered”.

Umeano disclosed that in an effort to further protect investors, the Commission has been carrying out enforcement exercises against these illegal fund managers and would continue to do so.

He said, “We have been going around closing Ponzi schemes and all those illegal fund managers and you know we have been on different stations. I personally have been on several TV stations, radio, and newspaper talking about this. We are about to launch a few billboards around the country saying these same things. Nigerians must understand that the money that they are giving people it is difficult to get.

“It is difficult to raise capital and before you give it to someone, it is important to know that person is the right person. This they can easily ascertain by going on our website. That is the message.

He stated that the Commission has a police Unit that assists in investigating these entities and carrying out enforcement actions when the need arises, while also collaborating with relevant government agencies like the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“The problem with Ponzi schemes is they use the money from Mr. A to pay Mr. B and use Mr. B’s own to pay Mr. C and while they are paying all that, they are taking their own so by the time we close them, there’s not enough money again to return to the people whose money they took. You also know they promise outrageous returns and these returns are paid to the first people.

“We have a few now that we are trying to resolve but I must tell you that it is difficult for anyone who has put money in a Ponzi scheme to recover much. It is important that Nigerians understand it is not nice. If anyone promises you a return too good to be true, then it is probably not true.

Dr. Umeano therefore urged Nigerians to be vigilant and carry out their due diligence by visiting the Commission’s website to ascertain registration status of the entities before investing, adding that there is also a need for them to understand the products they are investing in to obtain desired returns on their investments.

Some assets owned by federal government are unknown, dead -says MOFI

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

The ministry of finance incorporated (MOFI) says some assets owned by the federal government are unknown, while others are “dead and gone”.

MOFI is a corporation solely vested with the responsibility to manage all federal government investments, interests, estates, easements and rights.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, on Wednesday, inaugurated the new the governing council, board of directors and executive management team of MOFI.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shamsudeen Usman, MOFI’s new board chairman, said the federal governments assets currently have an estimated value of N18-19 trillion.

The former minister of finance, however, said there is uncertainty about actual the assets owned by the federal government as some are unknown.

He said MOFI will do a detailed inventory to produce a credible national register of the assets.

Usman said the register would help to eliminate uncertainties regarding assets owned by the government.

“There is no body in government today that can tell you with certainty, [that] this is 100 percent the assets owned by the government. Unfortunately, we are in that situation, some work have started. That’s why we arrived at this estimated N18- N19 trillion. But there are some that are even not known. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Where are they? Where are they all over the country? What’s the value? And how can we turn them around?” he said.

“I’ve seen the list. For example, some of the quoted companies in which the government owns shares, are dead already, dead and gone. But it is in the register that government is still owning some of those shares, but the companies are no more.

“You know, I think in terms of the major assets today, the petroleum assets, for example, are huge. NNPC itself is partly owned by MOFI, the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, our shareholding in the Islamic Bank, African Development Bank, these are all assets we own. And then of course, there are some that you know, they are more or less either dead or not yielding anything.

“Some of them, we took loans to set them up. They are supposed to be commercial ventures that are supposed to actually generate the repayment of those loans. Now, in some cases, the government has paid the loans. And those institutions are still being baby nursed by the government.

“I don’t want to give any specific example. I don’t want to embarrass some of the MDs of those companies. So, we have to work on those to say, look, how do we restructure you in such a way that you begin to yield revenue to the government. And where some of the loans are outstanding, can we generate some of the repayment of the loans from the activities of those corporations?”

Asked how the board intends to manage the conflict between the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), since MOFI has been declared a clearing house for asset sale, Usman said the body would work with all the agencies.

He said the agencies were already part of the committee that did the initial work, adding that consultations would go on.

“Well, I don’t want to comment on that. But certainly, you know, as a former minister, I know that there are those potential conflicts. I think what we’ll do is we will try and work together with all those agents,” he said.

“Luckily, in the background work that was done, as you heard in the minister’s speech and in the president’s, those agencies were actually involved as part of the committee that did the initial work. So, we will continue the consultation. And I’m sure at the end of the day, we will do what is in the best interest of Nigeria.”