The Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh, spent a huge 850,000 naira(about 5,380 dollars)on food in one day, in violation of regulations on how much Chief Executives can spend, a House of Representatives committee said on Wednesday.
Ms. Oteh was accused of multiple violations at a bad-tempered public hearing of the House committee on Capital market investigating a dwindling market that has weakened investors trust and cost the nation billions of naira.
The House committee, headed by Herman Hembe, said the commission’s boss flouted rules, compromised her position and engaged in a spending spree in the last one year she has held office.
At a point, Ms. Oteh accused the committee of pursuing an agenda and surpassing the mandate of the hearing. She branded the house sitting a Kangaroo court, and dodged questions put to her. The inquiry sets out to establish why the capital market is almost collapsing, and why big organizations are protected by the commission while investors face increasing risk. Lawmakers said the DG’s unbridled spending and her relationship with some of the organizations she oversights have eroded the commission’s regulatory role.
In one case, the DG spent as much as 30 million naira on hotel bills accommodation in eight months.
Arunma Oteh is of Nigerian/British nationality. She is from Abia State. She studied at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria, earning a first class honors degree in Computer Science. She went on to the Harvard Business School where she obtained a Masters Degree in Business Administration. She co-edited the book, African Voices African Visions.[2] Oteh worked for various institutions including the Harvard Institute for International Development and Centre Point Investments Limited of Nigeria in corporate finance, consulting, teaching and research. She joined the African Development Bank (ADB) in 1992.[2] She was a Senior Investment Officer/Senior Capital Markets Officer from 1993 to 1997, then Division Manager Investments and Trading Room from 1997 to 2001 when she was appointed the Bank's Group Treasurer responsible for fund raising and investments in major international capital markets.[3] Oteh was appointed Vice-President for Corporate Management at the ADB in March 2006, responsible for Language Services, General Services and Procurement, Human Resources, and Information Management and Methods.[2] The SEC Director General Musa Al-Faki resigned in April 2009 amid criticism of the SEC role in a share-manipulation scandal involving African Petroleum stock.[4] Oteh was nominated Director-General and Executive Commissioner (Legal & Compliance) of the Securities & Exchange Commission by President Umaru Yar'Adua in July 2009, subject to Senate confirmation.[3] Arunma Oteh became Director General of the SEC in January 2010.[4]
In a June 2010 interview with the BBC Oteh listed "wash sales, market rigging, pumping and dumping shares" as some of the abuses in Nigeria's capital market. She said the SEC expected to charge about 200 individuals and entities in civil or criminal cases. She faced resistance from the powerful Nigerian rent-seeking elite, but expressed confidence due to the backing she had received from President Goodluck Jonathan.[1] In August 2010 Oteh dismissed Okereke-Onyiuke from the stock exchange.[4
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