BY VINCENT UJUMADU
AWKA —Director-General of The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC,
Ms Arunma Oteh, said, weekend in Awka, Anambra State that she was
prepared to die for doing the right thing to save the Nigerian Capital
Market.
Speaking after she was honoured by the Anambra State Council of the
Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Oteh said many people in the country
were afraid that with the return of sanity at the capital market, they
would lose their strangle hold on the economy, adding that she would
continue to do her best to ensure that the ugly past did not return.
She said: “People have said that I am very courageous and I believe
that I am courageous because I am an Igbo. When I got the letter that
the Anambra State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists wanted to
honour me as the most courageous woman of the year, I almost shed tears.
This is because despite what people are doing to bring us down, there
are people somewhere who are appreciative of the good work we do.
“I am not afraid to say that I will always do the right thing as the
Director General of The Securities and Exchange Commission. I am not
moved by what people are doing trying to pull me down, so long as I know
that I am doing the right thing. In the past, we had a Capital Market
where people wore suits and sat down to steal money belonging to
peasants.
“But when I came in, I told myself that all these have got to stop.
We must sanitize our Capital Market and build a trust that will let the
poor man put his savings in it and be assured that it will not be stolen
by people. What I am doing at the SEC, I am ready to die for. I am not
afraid to die so long as I am doing the right thing.”
And I am very emboldened by the fact that people are watching. No
matter the level of conspiracy against one, people are seeing your
efforts and at the right time, one will be rewarded for every good work.
“We should learn from the horrible things that happened in the past
when people lost everything after selling all they had to invest in the
Capital Market Even up to 2010 it was still happening. People were told
that their money will just double, and many of our people are crying
today because they sold their houses, took their life savings and put
them there. That is not what we are saying today.
“What we are saying is that if you want to invest, you must ask
questions. It is not enough for us to just tell the people that once you
put your money, it will double. You must go to meet financial experts
and ask them questions before you invest.
It is your right to ask questions, but please don’t wait for people
to come from other countries and invest today and when you are ready to
invest, it would be that prices have gone to the top”.
Vanguard
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