House Committee/SEC Boss : In the news for all the wrong reasons

[MrVan]

By Ben Agande

The House of Representatives ended the week on a rather sad note. One of its committees investigating the dwindling fortunes of the Capital Market was embroiled in a sleazy allegation of demanding a bribe from one of the agencies it was investigating to determine its role in the failure of the Stock Market, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On the second day into its proposed two week public hearing, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange commission, Arunmah Oteh, rather sensationally jolted the consciousness of many Nigerians who had a day earlier watched on national television with incredulity how she had spent a whooping Eight Hundred and fifty Thousand Naira (N850,000) on food in a day, when she told the committee that she could not trust to be fairly treated if the chairman of the committee, Hon. Herman Hembe, continued to chair.

She alleged that her unfair maligning by the committee chairman was as a result of the failure of her commission to accede to the request of the committee to bankroll some of the aspects of the public hearing to the tune of N39 million.

For a House of Representatives that appears sufficiently deficient in credibility (that is what some people think of the HOUSE), this allegation which was denied by the chairman of the committee was the needed elixir by members of the public to quickly forget the unraveling revelations that had begun during the hearing. For instance, in a country where more than seventy percent of its estimated one 150 million population live in poverty, the head of a government agency which appears to have also failed in its regulatory functions was alleged to have spent N850, 000 on food in a day. This is in addition to the fact that contrary to extant government regulations, the head of this same agency had stayed in a luxury five star hotel for eight months as against twenty eight days stipulated by government rules.

The significance of these series of allegations and counter allegations is not so much in the amount involved in these sleazy deals but the implications for the country. While the Committee's assignment – if it were not hampered by the allegation against its head – would have given a sort of life line to the comatose Capital Market the series of issues around the public hearing has already sufficiently weakened the course and cause of the committee midway into its work.

But the vital question to ask is, why did the Director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission wait till her rather opaque handling of the affairs of the Commission was exposed before she launched into the allegation of members demanding for bribe from her? Was her allegation that the former Director General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange's nephew, Emeka Ihedioha, the deputy speaker of the House failure to  raise any voice when things were going wrong in the stock market a subtle indictment of the Deputy speaker that the present public hearing was aimed at getting at her?

Sadly, many Nigerians will not be bothered to look beyond the sensationalism of the allegations to dig deeper into the issues being raised by the House. How did our Stock Market get to the stage that it is? Was it because of the sharp practices of those who were entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding it against abuse? These are pertinent questions that should not be allowed to be swept away by the sensationalism of allegations of corruption and bribe demand.

For the leadership of the House of Representatives, this is an opportunity for it to rise to the occasion and provide the needed leadership expected of it from Nigerians. Although the chairman of the Committee on Capital Market has vigorously denied asking for any money from the Securities and Exchange Commission and has invited the anti corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other matters Commission to investigate the allegations, the Speaker of the House of Representatives should use the opportunity of the unfolding embarrassment to thoroughly and transparently investigate this allegation and make its findings public.

This way, it will not only send a message that its stand against corruption is not only against agencies of government it carries out oversight functions on but also against its members. Such investigation would also serve as a veritable avenue for the committee chairman whose credibility has been sufficiently tarred by this allegation to clear his name and that of his committee.

Vanguard Nigeria