Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affirmed its commitment to collaborate with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to minimize trading manipulations in the virtual sphere.
Dr. Emomotimi Agama, the Acting Director General of SEC, made this declaration during a meeting with a delegation from the EFCC, headed by the Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, in Abuja. Agama emphasized that as the apex regulator of the capital market, SEC is prepared to work closely with the EFCC to uphold the national objective of preventing illegal activities from gaining ground.
He said, “It is a great pleasure to receive you here today. This is a testament to the relationship we have and the value you place on the SEC and the best interest of Nigeria. We believe this will be the beginning of greater things to come. My desire is for us to strengthen the existing Memorandum of Understanding we have and ensure it is more effective in dealing with current issues.
“We believe this form of co-operation is in the best interest of Nigerians. Only last week, met the fintech community and we made it clear to them that the SEC will not condone illegal trading on any platform especially P2P. it’s a dangerous trend and we cannot allow it continue. This collaboration is very necessary for us to get out of this forex crisis.”
He disclosed that the commission is planning an economic regulatory hub where it can upload requests and other regulators/sister agencies would be able to respond immediately thereby reducing incidences of delay.
He added, “We plan to create an economic regulatory hub where we can upload requests and other regulators can respond immediately. Time to market is very important in the work we do and we need to have information and responses in a timely manner.
“We will do all we need to do to ensure our markets are free from manipulations. We will enforce where necessary to send a strong message that it is no longer business as usual.
“We are examining our virtual regulations to cover all areas and are open to reviews to have a better document and a well regulated market. we are striving to close all the gaps and this co-operation will enable us block every gap in our bid to regulate the virtual space and give comfort to Nigerians.”
Speaking earlier, Olukoyede said Forex malpractices and crisis are injurious to any economy adding that the role virtual traders are playing in destroying the Nigerian economy through their activities needs to be checked.
He described the SEC as critical in the area of regulatory compliance stating that the Commission is ready to use the instrumentality of the Commission to stimulate the economy.
“We are enforcers and not regulators and that is why we need the SEC to ensure people play by the rules. We have done a lot in discouraging people from forex malpractices
“The mandate of the EFCC is to enforce all economic and financial crimes in Nigeria and this is a herculean task and that is why we are collaborating with other relevant government agencies. We need to ensure people play by the rules and ensure compliance in a bid to attract Foreign Direct Investments to our economy,” he said.
