Effective Dispute Resolution Will Engender Capital Market Growth – Yuguda

The Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has said, the capital market, which is considered the catalyst for economic growth, must be sustained by an effective and efficient dispute resolution mechanism by adjudicators who are subject matter experts to engender investors’ confidence.

The director-general of SEC, Lamido Yuguda stated this during a one-day workshop organised by the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) in collaboration with the Nigeria Bar Association(NBA) yesterday in Abuja.

Represented by executive commissioner, Legal and Enforcement of SEC, Mr. Reginald Karawusa, he said, the workshop is important for legal practitioners who appear before the IST on behalf of their clients and lawyers who generally practice in the capital market.

According to him, “this workshop is important for legal practitioners who appear before the IST on behalf of their clients and lawyers who generally practice in the capital market.

“Lawyers play very prominent roles in Capital market and as such should not only how to structure transactions but also have clear knowledge of the procedure and the practices of appearing before the IST.”

“It is a welcome development that workshop such as this is holding at this period when the new IST procedure has been published.

I would encourage and recommend that this workshop be an annual feature in the calendar of the Investments and Securities Tribunal and the Nigerian Bar Association.”

Chairman of IST, Mr. Amos Azi said that, by the Securities And Exchange Commission(SEC) Act of 1988, the Federal High Court was vested with jurisdiction over violations arising from capital market transactions.

Azi said, pursuant to the said Act, the SEC established the Administrative Hearing Proceedings Committee to resolve capital market disputes, and appeals lay therefrom to the Federal High Court.

“Unfortunately, the Federal High Courts were largely unable to appreciate the peculiar nature of the capital market, being as it were very time sensitive. Investors’ confidence was not particularly helped by the delays encountered in the resolution of their disputes in the conventional courts as the transactions in the market increased, thereby impacting negatively on investors’ confidence vis-a-viz market performance,” he said.

Mindful of the need to be responsive to an ever-evolving market, he stressed that, the Tribunal reviewed its Procedure Rules, which was exposed to stakeholders for necessary inputs.