The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have agreed to collaborate to tackle crime in the Nigerian capital market.
Ms Mary Uduk, SEC’s Director-General said this in a statement signed by the Head of Media, SEC, MrsEfeEbello, on Sunday in Abuja.
Uduk said the agreement was reached when the management of SEC met with the management team of EFCC at the EFCC Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.
She said the visit was necessary to close ranks in the face of re-awakening of Ponzi schemes, cybercrime and other fraudulent activities that had engulfed the market in the last few years.
Uduk also said the visit was aimed at revisiting the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between both organisations on Jan. 19, 2017.
According to her, some areas where the MoU seeks cooperation of both agencies includes training and secondment of middle cadre officers of SEC to EFCC and those of EFCC to SEC.
She said other areas were cross boarder asset seizure, repatriation of stolen funds from the capital market and prosecution of offenders among others
Uduk said both organisations had worked together on some cases in the past and there was no better time for them to collaborate more closely than now.
The statement said Acting Chairman of EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu thanked the Executive Management of SEC for the gesture and stressed the need to strengthen collaboration between both agencies.
Magu assured SEC team of EFCC’s support in ensuring that clauses embedded in the MoU were executed given the magnitude of fraudulent activities presenty going on in the country.
He reiterated the need for joint training of staff of both organisations, saying there was the need to review the MoU in order to achieve both organisation’s objectives.
On the rising spate of Ponzi schemes in the country, Magu stressed the need for more sensitisation campaigns between SEC and EFCC.
This, he said would ensure that unsuspecting Nigerians do not continue to lose their hard earned money.
