 |
 |
|
|
Search Fo r | |
ARCHIVES |
SUBSCRIPTION |
APRIL 9, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 26 |
| More than Shareholding The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), seeks to regulate activities of shareholder groups in the country, as it rolls out a code of conduct By Udo Onyeka In line with its resolve to rid the capital market of unwholesome attitude and practices, the regulatory body for the market, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has commenced a searchlight on the activities of shareholder groups in the country, by rolling out a code of conduct to guide the organisation and operations of shareholders association in the country. The fresh code which aims at ensuring good corporate governance, are meant to further stabilise the capital market as shareholders are known to be a very vital segment of the industry. The Source gathered that the document would soon be presented to the groups numbering above 20. In putting together the code, SEC said it has identified that without proper organisation and direction, shareholders groups could be counter-productive, as the frequent conflict between shareholders and the management of some quoted companies show. In the draft of the new code, SEC said that all shareholders groups must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), just as it also pegged the minimum membership to 50. The new code expected to take-off late last month requires that membership of Audit committee of companies should be for three years of two terms. This, SEC explained, is intended to put a stop to the situation where some shareholders would remain in a company’s audit committee as if it were their birth right. In addition, the code stipulates three years of two terms for the leadership of all the shareholders groups. Also, SEC said that it frowns at the situation where those who do not have shares in a company attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of such companies, just because they belong to a shareholders, group, without legitimate proxies. This decision, The Source gathered is designed to discourage the attendance of non-shareholders at AGMs especially as those who do go there to foment trouble. The Source gathered that the new code was an outcome of several meetings and dialogue between the groups and the regulatory body. At one of such fora, the Director-General of SEC, Musa Al-Faki said it “is essentially to give the commission the opportunity to receive the reaction of the shareholders groups to the code and thereafter chart a way forward by entrenching good corporate governance in our quoted companies.” The meeting was a follow-up to an earlier held in May 2006. The chairman, Board of SEC, Chief John Edozien, said the introduction of a code of conduct for shareholders arose from the code of corporate governance for quoted companies introduced in the country four years ago. According to him, “the aim is to give activities of shareholders a sharper focus on all the import task of enhancing shareholders values” Edozien urged shareholders’ leaders to see the introduction of the code of conduct for their associations in Nigeria as one of the ways through which the commission seeks to improve the standard of corporate governance of quoted companies and by extension, the shareholder value of investments in Nigerian quoted companies. Al-Faki equally assured the groups of the commitment of the commission to continue to do its best to take the Nigerian capital market to the highest international standard, so that the market will rank among the best in the world and therefore be able to further attract investors both local and foreign. He, therefore, implored the various shareholders leaders to join hands with the commission to achieve this objective. Sunny Nwosu, national coordinator of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), lauded the initiative of the SEC in coming up with the code which he said will make way for a focused shareholders’ activities. “It goes a long way to show the commitment of the Commission to promote orderliness in the Nigerian capital market.” Similarly, Boniface Okezie, chairman, Progressives Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), and Godwin Anono, chairman, Nigeria Professional Shareholders Association told The Source that it is a good development that the SEC is now willing to give shareholders its place in the industry. Okezie: “Shareholders are very vital segment of the economy. These are men and women who are part-owners of quoted companies and therefore legally entitled to take part in making decisions for the running of such companies. “Unfortunately, the management of some companies see criticisms coming from shareholders as uncalled for. This is not supposed to be so,” Okezie said. |
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
Home Archives Subscription Advert Rates About Us Contact Us ©2006 The Source Magazine is published weekly by Summit Pulications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |