Economy
Buhari Directs EFCC to Investigate SEC Boss
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been directed to launch an investigation into allegations of gross misconduct against the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mournir Gwarzo.
This directive, given by President Muhammadu Buhari, followed a petition filed against the embattled SEC boss by the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL).
In the petition signed by CACOL Executive Chairman, Mr Debo Adeniran, it was alleged that Mr Gwarzo paid himself a severance package of N104 million in “total disregard to the standing rule in the civil service.”
As a result, CACOL urged the President to “order a thorough audit of the finances of the Commission.”
The petition, received at the Presidential Villa last Saturday, copied the President, the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chairmen of Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Capital Market; Acting EFCC Chairman, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Commissioner of Police at the Special Fraud Unit and others.
It was gathered that the President, after viewing the petition, directed the EFCC to thoroughly look into the matter.
The Acting Chairman of the EFCC was ordered to work with CACOL to determine if the SEC DG paid himself the N104 million as alleged.
Mr Magu is also to find out if Mr Gwarzo is running the capital market regulatory agency like his personal estate.
The anti-graft agency was further mandated to determine if the SEC boss awarded contracts to firms belonging to his allies or relatives.
These companies include Outlook Communications, Tida International Limited, Outbound Investment Limited, Acromac Nigeria Limited, Balfort International Investment Limited, Medusa Investments Limited, Interactiven Worldwide Nigeria Limited, Northwind Environmental Services, and Micro-Technologies Limited.
Below is the petition filed by CACOL against Mr Gwarzo:
ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AND ABUSE OF OFFICE AGAINST THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, SEC, MR MOURNIR HALIRU GWARZO
The attention of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has been drawn to a large-scale abuse of office and gross official recklessness on the part of the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Mournir Haliru Gwarzo, who by our findings, has engaged in series of anti-establishment manipulations to enrich himself through acts that are at variance with civil service rules and regulations.
As Your Excellency is perhaps aware, our organisation, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, is an aggregate of human rights, community based and civil society organisations and individuals with anti-corruption and openness in governance agenda across Nigeria.
It is a non-political, non-religious, non-sectional and non-profit making organisation. We set for ourselves the tasks of promoting accountability, openness in governance and using any available means to cause relevant authorities to probe and bring to book, corrupt leaders both in public and private institutions.
We also strive to protect interest of persons or groups found to be victims or potential victims of corrupt practices or processes of manipulation and violation of human rights.
The decision to embark on the journey was taken in 2007 in view of the need to confront, once and for all, the monster that is ravaging all facets of our national life in Nigeria – CORRUPTION.
It is in view of our avowed commitment to the fight against corruption that we have presented the perceived official excesses and acts of corruption perpetrated by Mr Mournir Haliru Gwarzo before Your Excellency, having petitioned the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies.
The Issues:
On January 2, 2013, Mr Mournir Haliru Gwarzo was appointed an Executive Commissioner in the Securities and Exchange Commission for a four-year tenure by the then administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Before the expiration of the four-year deal, Gwarzo was elevated by same government as the Director General of the Commission on May 22, 2015. But consequent upon resumption of office as the Director General of SEC, Mr Gwarzo, ordered the payment of a severance benefit to himself to the tune of N104,851,154.94 (One hundred and four million, eight hundred and fifty one thousand, one hundred and fifty four naira and ninety-four kobo. We view this development as total disregard to the standing rule in the civil service that states that severance benefit can only be paid to an employee who has concluded his or her service and has completely disengaged from service and not to an employee who has been promoted within the Commission as is in the case of Mr Gwarzo.
- It is alleged that Mr Haliru Gwarzo runs SEC as his personal estate and appointed companies with links to him and some of his cronies in office to carry out transactions and provide services to the Commission. Some of the Companies listed to have links with Mr Gwarzo, his wife and other cronies are:
- Outbound Investment Ltd, RC NO. O. 807317
- Medusa Investments Limited, RC NO. 326829
- Northwind Environmental Services. REG NO BN2389176
- Micro-Technologies LTD RC NO. 173805
- Tida International Ltd RC NO. 26414
- Outlook Communications
- Acromac Nig Ltd RC NO. 10687864
- Balfort International Investment Ltd RC NO. 109153
- Interactiven Worldwide Nig Ltd RC NO. 779442
CACOL will want Your Excellency to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to look into the allegations of illegal creation of wealth from SEC by Mr Mournir Gwarzo.
We make bold to say that the personal interest of Mr Gwarzo in the above listed companies clearly contravenes the provisions of Nigerian law which distinctively prohibits public officers from putting themselves in situations where their personal interest conflicts with their public duties.
Our prayers
It is in view of these noted discrepancies that we urge Your Excellency to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to beam searchlights on the activities of Mr Mournir Haliru Gwarzo as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The EFCC is in possession of all supporting documents on the above stated allegations which are at our disposal where from the above-enumerated issues were teased out. We are, however, at Your Excellency’s service or that of any of the anti-corruption agencies to provide more documents that may be necessary to facilitate a prompt delivery on the investigation at any point we are called upon for such assistance.
- That Your Excellency should take immediate steps to constitute a Board for the Securities and Exchange Commission as provided for in the extant laws establishing the Commission. The Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 which gives the Commission its current powers also made a provision for the appointment of a nine (9) member Board to be headed by a Chairman. The idea of the Board is to, amongst other things, ensure that no Director-General of the Commission can become a law onto himself or herself and act without appropriate checks by the Board.
- Considering the high probability that a lot more atrocities may have been committed unchecked under the present circumstance in which the Securities and Exchange Commission has functioned without a Board, CACOL considers it incumbent to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to order a thorough audit of the finances of the Commission.
Please accept our esteemed regards as we look forward to Your Excellency’s decisive intervention in unearthing the issues raised here with strict compliance with the rule of law.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange opened the week with a 0.52 per cent rise on Monday, July 20, driven by renewed buying interest.
The volume of securities traded during the opening session surged by 6,663.3 per cent to 52.6 million units from the previous 777,002 units, and the value of securities rose by 200.9 per cent to N191.2 million from the preceding session’s N104.2 million, while the number of deals depreciated by 15.2 per cent to 28 deals compared to the preceding session’s 33 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion in trades, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.4 million units exchanged for N5.3 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
Yesterday, there were two price gainers and three price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slid by 66 Kobo to end at N141.15 per unit versus last Friday’s N141.81 per unit, Food Concepts Plc lost 24 Kobo to close at N2.31 per share versus N2.55 per share, and Geo-Fluids Plc declined by 17 Kobo to settle at N2.25 per unit compared with the previous closing price of N2.42 per unit.
Conversely, CSCS Plc chalked up N5.19 to close at N99.33 per share versus N94.14 per share, and Mass Telecoms Plc appreciated by 3 Kobo to sell at 35 Kobo per unit from 32 Kobo per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N13.57 billion to N2.606 trillion from N2.593 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) gained 22.6 points to quote at 4,343.27 points, in contrast to the previous 4,320.67 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira almost traded flat against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, July 20. It gained 7 Kobo during the session to sell at N1,380.11/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s value of N1,380.18/$1.
It also appreciated against the Euro in the same market window during the session by N1.64 to close at N1,575.95/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,576.99/€1, but depreciated against the Pound Sterling by N2.93 to trade at N1,857.35/£1 compared with the previous trading day’s N1,854.42/£1.
At the GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian Naira lost N1 against the US Dollar to quote at N1,389/$1 versus N1,388/$1, and at the black market, it traded flat at N1,405/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX turnover settled at $266.2 million, 7.5 per cent lower than the previous close of $287.8 million. Also, the number of deals at the interbank FX market declined to 68 from 106.
Despite this, there are signals that the Naira has pillars that can prop up its stability. Updated data from the apex bank showed Nigeria’s gross foreign exchange reserves increased to $51.92 billion as of July 16, 2026, reflecting continued improvements in the country’s external position.
A slew of analysts predict further increases will lift the gross balance above $52 billion this week, the highest seen since 2009.
Also, there are expectations that the country will be able to boost remittances into the country to $1 billion on a monthly basis by the end of the year; this will help ease pressure on the FX markets.
Meanwhile, in the crypto market, Bitcoin (BTC) climbed to about $65,500, reaching a two-week high, as the semiconductor selloff that dragged crypto lower last week reversed and Asian chip stocks led a broad risk rally. It rose by 2.4 per cent to $65,676.01.
There was also support from five straight days of inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs totalling more than $600 million, marking the strongest stretch of institutional buying since mid-July.
Cardano (ADA) jumped by 8.3 per cent to $0.1756, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 4.0 per cent to $1,930.33, Ripple (XRP) improved by 3.9 per cent to $1.13, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 3.2 per cent to $78.34, Binance Coin (BNB) added 1.9 per cent to sell for $575.34, and Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 1.7 per cent rise to $0.0729.
However, TRON (TRX) declined by 0.1 per cent to $0.3261, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each
By Dipo Olowookere
Sustained bargain-hunting in local stocks further lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 1.12 per cent on Monday.
The buying pressure was across the major sectors of Customs Street, though the consumer goods space came under profit-taking, closing flat.
But the banking counter expanded by 3.14 per cent, the industrial goods index gained 2.82 per cent, the insurance sector increased by 0.25 per cent, and the energy segment soared by 0.08 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) surged by 2,721.83 points to 246,183.96 points from 243,462.13 points, and the market capitalisation went up by N1.755 trillion to N158.812 trillion from N157.057 trillion.
Custodian Investment and NEM Insurance chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N75.90 and N30.80, respectively, BUA Cement rose by 9.98 per cent to N303.10, First Holdco improved by 9.95 per cent to N105.50, and FTN Cocoa advanced by 9.94 per cent to N9.29.
On the flip side, SUNU Assurances shrank by 10.00 per cent to N3.60, Tripple Gee slipped by 9.77 per cent to N3.51, ABC Transport tumbled by 9.62 per cent to N7.05 per cent, Abbey Bank crashed by 9.00 per cent to N9.10, and Coronation Insurance dipped by 7.69 per cent to N2.40.
The market breadth index was flat yesterday, as there were 31 price gainers and 31 price losers.
First Holdco led the activity chart during the session, with a turnover of 203.9 million shares valued at N21.5 billion. Access Holdings sold 190.7 million equities worth N4.8 billion, UBA traded 29.2 million stocks for N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 24.7 million shares valued at N2.9 billion, and Sterling Holdings exchanged 23.6 million equities worth N187.4 million.
When trading activities ended at 4 pm, investors traded 851.6 million stocks for N49.6 billion in 56,873 deals compared with the 685.9 million stocks valued at N42.7 billion transacted in 44,134 deals last Friday, representing a rise in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 24.16 per cent, 16.16 per cent, and 28.86 per cent, respectively.
