The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to have been caught in a web of illegalities as multiple sources in the commission accuse the management of secrete recruitment, waste of hundreds of naira on foreign travels and plan to lavish huge money on board members in a self-serving spree.
SEC unit of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in a letter dated May 22, 2023 accused management of the commission of undertaking a secret recruitment exercise and has appointed a questionable committee to oversee the exercise.
The commission has fraudulently procured the approval of Federal Character Commission (FCC) to secretly carry out the recruitment exercise without following due process, an allegation that was denied by head of external relations department at SEC, Bagudu Mohammed.
“There is no truth in what the union is saying. Nobody was recruited. Nobody,” the spokesman said in a reaction to the allegations.
Despite decimating staff gratuity, management is set to pay itself hundreds of millions as severance package upon exiting the commission after serving for less than four years, this correspondent learnt.
“The Union is not unaware that management has bribed the Federal Character Commission (FCC) with money and employment slots to obtain an illegal waiver of the requirement to advertise the recruitment exercise,” the union said in a letter that was sent to the immediate past minister of finance, budget and national planning Zainab Ahmed.
The minister failed to act on the letter before leaving office in May.
According to provisions of section 4(b) of the commission’s employee handbook, employment is supposed to be based on open/competitive and restricted to positions where vacancies have not been filled by existing employees or where special skills not immediately available in the commission are required.
SEC, under the current administration has been enmeshed in array of scandals.
In May this year, Senate asked the DG and his commissioners to refund the N594 million they illegally took as vehicle allowances to the consolidated revenue fund.
Last month, BusinessDay reported that SEC failed to published its annual reports and accounts for eight consecutive years, an allegation that was denied by the commission.
The union in the letter sign by its chairman, Mamman Ali Abba, vice chairman, Musa Dakup, Secretary, David Oyalami and ex-officio Nelson Oleghe said, “The union will vigorously resist and reject any recruitment exercise that contravenes this position.”
The union also accused director-general of the commission, Mr Lamido Yuguda of embarking on indiscriminate travels, leaving a stockpile of workload unattended to. It said the DG is spending huge sums of money on unnecessary trips outside Nigeria without care for staff welfare.
One of such trips is the one to Malaysia where he and other board members spent over N100 million to attend a workshop. The DG also allegedly collected N7 million purchase only flight ticket to attend a global chief executive officers meeting in Thailand recently.
The director-general has made about 10 foreign trips and several local trips this year alone at expense to the commission and to the detriment of his duties and responsibilities, a source in the research department of the commission said.
Confirming the allegation to our correspondent, the union chairman said “a lot of files have piled up in the director-general’s office and have been left unattended to. The commission is on auto pilot. Market operators are beginning to notice the lack of leadership in the Commission and capital market.”
The SEC spokesman denied any wrongdoing by the Mr Lamido to attend the meetings, citing his importance at the international meetings. “If the commission doesn’t attend, the commission will be rated low globally because of his absence and not the strength of our capital market. The decisions around capital markets are taken by chief executives globally. Capital market regulators are all present in these meetings.”
Mohammed said the DG did not go on the trips without approval of the ministry of finance. “If the trips were not genuinely, the ministry of finance will not give him approval. So, where you have approval can somebody just say you are recklessly traveling? The DG has the approvals to travel,” he said.
A source in SEC said the former minister of finance, budget and national planning Zainab Ahmed encouraged the waste of public funds by granting approvals to the DG for even the most frivolous expenses.
In addition, the lackadaisical disposition of management to issues of staff welfare has created a trust deficit between the union and management. The union said it’s no longer able to place its trust in any assurance given by the Lamido-led management.
Last modified: July 13, 2023
