THE Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has urged the Chairman and members of the Investments and SecuritiesTribunal to work together, diligently, to discharge their responsibilities in line with the mandate of the Tribunal.
Ahmed said this during the swearing-in of the Chairman of the IST, Azi Amos Isaac.
He was sworn in along with Nosa Smart Osemwengie, as a member of the IST.
Ahmed said with their appointment, the Tribunal now had a full complement of 10 members in line with the enabling law, the Investments and Securities Act, 2007.
She urged all the members of the Tribunal to justify the confidence reposed in them by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While congratulating them for being found worthy by the President to be appointed to the highly exalted positions, the Minister also said their appointments came at a time when all hands were needed to build the economy.
“As you all may be aware, the IST was first inaugurated in December, 2002. It is a specialised fast-track court, established for the settlement of disputes in the capital market,” she said.
Recalling the challenges that affected the Tribunal in the past, the Minister said the Tribunal had in the last five years suffered many setbacks due largely to poor administration.
She said, “These setbacks have blurred, if not completely wiped out, whatever modest achievements the Tribunal might have recorded in its adjudicatory role.
“We may recall that in November, 2015, the Tribunal was dissolved and the Chairman and its members relieved of their jobs. A new panel of the Tribunal, which includes many of the members here seated, was inaugurated in 2017.”
“Again, barely two years into your tenor, the chairman of the Tribunal was removed. The problems with the tribunal had been infighting amongst members, lack of industrial harmony and a series of complaints bordering on mal-administration. These have been the bane of the tribunal and source of embarrassment, not only to the ministry but the Federal Government,” she added.
In view of the challenges, Ahmed, highlighting the chairman’s responsibility, urged him to provide good leadership that would galvanise the human and material resources at the Tribunal’s disposal on the path of stability towards achieving its mandate in a consistent manner.
“I call on all members of the IST to cooperate with the new chairman, so that the vision of the tribunal which is ‘to be a world class capital market tribunal that is fair and transparent, dispensing justice without fear or favour,’ could be attained,” she added.
Azi described the appointment as a challenging one, but however assured that the new management would take up the challenge and ensure that Nigerians are not disappointed.
He said, “The Tribunal was established as a critical infrastructure in the ecosystem of the Nigerian capital market and indeed Nigeria as a whole.
“From 2003 to date, they have given judgement in the value of assets of over N844bn and from 2017 to date they have given decisions in monetary value of over N24bn.
“The Tribunal has not failed in its statutory responsibility, it has carried out its assignment with candor and integrity and I will improve on that.
“The issue of administrative and labour related issues we are already working to address that. I am happy to report that we have so far made very meaningful progress.”
