No tenure extension for SEC’s DG Oteh

President Goodluck Jonathan has rejected a request for the extension of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director-General Ms Arunma Oteh’s tenure, it emerged yesterday.

He has approved the appointment of a Commissioner in the Commission, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, as acting Director-General.

The President rejected a memo from the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, seeking a second term for Oteh.

The memo was said to be based on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim’s recommendation.

Ms. Oteh’s controversial tenure ended on January 6.

Although she lobbied to return, the President was said to have thought otherwise.

It was learnt an evaluation showed that her performance was “neither sterling nor spectacular.”

The government found that the stock market has not recovered from the 2008 financial crisis.

The President, findings showed, rejected her return to resolve the lingering “Executive-National Assembly face-off” over her tenure.

A source said: “Despite intense lobbying by some government officials and business players, the President stood his ground that Ms. Oteh should not come back.

“Jonathan rejected a memo from the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala seeking the retention of Ms. Oteh. The Minister based the case for Oteh  on a strong recommendation by the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim.

“To some extent, the SGF misled the Minister because the indices did not add up for Oteh as to earn a renewal of tenure. There was no convincing statistics to prove that Oteh has led the stock market to a leap recovery.

“No one could explain why the Office of the SGF which suspended her while in office will be the one championing her retention. I think there was a tribal connotation to it.

“The evaluation of her tenure indicated an average performance because she was rated as ‘neither sterling nor spectacular. The President chose to look beyond ethnic sentiments and stood on the side of truth and the public yearning for a change in SEC.

“Stakeholders in the Stock Exchange Market, workers and others alike wanted a fresh breath of air in SEC. You will recall that at the peak of SEC crisis in 2012, Ms. Oteh’s commissioners even disowned her.

It could not be ascertained if Ms. Oteh will remain a member of the President’s Economic Management Team (EMT).

“Another source added: “She earned First Class in Computer Science from  the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the nation might still engage her elsewhere.

“No nation will allow a First Class brain and respected intellectual to waste away. Definitely, the Presidency may accommodate her elsewhere.”

Gwarzo, the Executive Commissioner for Operations, graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Bayero University, Kano in 1987.

He obtained a Post-Graduate Degree in Development Finance from the University of Birmingham in 1999.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.

A third source said: “Gwarzo will act pending the appointment of a substantive DG. The President has the discretion to appoint a DG in line with Section 5(1 and 2) of the Investments and Securities Act 2007.

The section says: “The DG and the three full time commissioners shall be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Minister and confirmation by the Senate.

“The DG shall hold office for a period of five years in the first instance and may be reappointed for a further period of five years and no more.”

Ms. Oteh was suspended on June 12, 2012 and was recalled via a letter by the SGF.

The reinstatement followed an audit report on SEC by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Her recall created bad blood between the Presidency and the House of Representatives because she was reinstated on the eve of the presentation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Capital Market’s report on the SEC’s activities.

The crisis between the House and Ms. Oteh followed a public hearing into the capital market operations.

During the hearing, the then Chairman of the House Committee on Capital market and Other Institutions, Mr. Herman Hembe, alleged that Ms. Oteh was not qualified to be DG.

He said the committee also discovered how Ms. Oteh allegedly spent N850, 000 on hotel accommodation in a day and N85, 000 on a meal.

But Ms. Oteh took exception to the allegations, saying: “This has been a Kangaroo court. Not even in Idi Amin’s Uganda did we have this type of public hearing. You had implied that as a regulator, that by having people on secondment from the private sector, it could undermine the capacity of the regulatory functions of the commission.

“In asking the SEC to contribute N39m for this public hearing, don’t you think that you are undermining your capacity to carry out your duties?”

The Nation newspaper