Publicly Listed Firms in Nigeria Get Deadline to Register with SEC

By Dipo Olowookere

All public companies trading their securities in Nigeria have been directed to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on or before December 31, 2018 or get punished.

Acting Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services at SEC, Mr Henry Rowlands, made this disclosure while addressing newsmen last week at the post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) of SEC in Lagos.

He said already, SEC has distributed letters to all registrars, to fast-track compliance to the rules and ensure that public companies abide by the deadline.

According to him, to accelerate compliance, the commission would ensure that companies filing their returns must provide evidence in form of letters to show due registration with the regulatory authority.

“Some trading was rolled under the table. Immediately we created those rules, we send letters to registrars to mandate them comply with the rules and we have also identifies some companies that their shares are actively traded that are not registered and we will write to company secretaries to draw their attention on the rule.

“If companies are bringing returns to us, we will check if the company is registered your securities with sec, if yes, then the company must provide evidence of sec registration letter. We have now issued a circular for a deadline of December 31.”

Mr Rowlands said, “After December, any Plc that failed to register their securities with SEC, after December, the commission may decide to adopt other means to ensure that companies comply with the directive.”