Uduk explains why investors avoid capital market

The acting Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Mary Uduk has said lack of good corporate governance is one of the reasons why some investors are avoiding investing in the capital market.

Uduk said this on Thursday in Abuja at a conference on capital market.

She said the lack of good corporate governance practice in some firms has created a lot of issues in the corporate world, adding that such issues are some of the reasons why people are avoiding the capital market.

Uduk said the capital market community has resolved that the issues that led to the 2008/2009 crisis would never again be not allowed to happen.

She said, “We have different Corporate Governance codes in place to ensure good corporate governance.

“SEC set the pace in 2003 with a code and renewed it in 2011. When we saw there were still gaps, we reviewed it in 2014 and came up with a scorecard.

“In pursuance of our goals of ensuring that the market we regulate is sound, we went ahead to do a lot of training with International Finance Corporation.

“The scorecard is a direct compliance with the code. Even though at the moment we are still doing a pilot, there is now a lot of compliance in terms of submissions.

“From January 2020, we will go to these companies to ascertain the veracity of their submissions.”

The acting DG said the SEC codes are mandatory because they are now in its Rules and Regulations, adding that it is now compulsory for companies to adhere to it.

He said already, there are provisions in the regulations to punish violators.

“All hands need to be on deck to ensure we succeed on this one. Even operators know the disadvantage of not complying.

“When the market is down, they do not earn much. So they have decided to ensure that the right thing is done.

“We are hoping that since this is the only market we have, we all have to do the right thing in the interest of everyone” she added.