Adeosun removes acting DG of SEC

Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, has appointed Mary Uduk as acting director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Uduk takes over from Abdul Zubair who has been redeployed to the external relations department of the ministry.

According to a statement issued on Adeosun’s behalf by Oluyinka Akintunde, her spokesman, Uduk’s appointment is governed by the provisions of the investments and securities act (ISA), 2007 and the conditions of service applicable to the director-general of the commission.

She added that the appointment was subject to satisfactory performance.

The statement said Uduk joined SEC in 1986 as an assistant financial analyst and her career as a regulator has spanned many functions and departments in the commission, from corporate finance, administration, to providing structural, policy and due diligence for capital market transactions.

She has also been responsible for managing several landmark capital market projects, including the registration of capital market operators, articulating rules for bonds and equities; mergers, acquisitions and takeovers, and managing the banking and insurance industry consolidations between 2005 and 2007.

She served as the pioneer head of the operations division in the Lagos zonal office and has headed a number of departments in the commission which include internal control, investment management, financial standards and corporate governance and securities, and investment services department, among others.

Other reassignments approved by the minister were Reginald Karawusa (acting executive commissioner, legal and enforcement), Isiyaku Tilde (acting executive commissioner, operations), and Henry Adekunle (acting executive commissioner, corporate services).

Meanwhile, the minister has requested for a formal explanation from the SEC of the recent communications between the commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), which “adversely impacted market confidence”.

Two days ago, there was confusion over the shares of Oando Plc. NSE had lifted suspension on the trading of Oando’s shares and suspended it again after three hours of trading.

The agency later reversed itself, explaining that it acted based on a directive from SEC.