DYNAMICS OF REGULATOR FUNCTIONALITY: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS OF THE NIGERIA SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Abstract

This paper is a critical evaluation of the regulatory structures of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the maintenance of capital market stability, the sustenance of confidence in securities and the protection of the investing public with a view to finding whether they meet shareholder expectations and strategic best practices and standards. In the context of the regulation of corporations in Nigeria and the SEC’s concomitant powers of control, surveillance, monitoring, investigation of companies and enforcement of securities and investment statutes, codes and rules; the finding is that of under-performance of the securities market and corporations failure as a direct fall out of the SEC’s fluid legal foundation and inappropriate or near absence of application of regulatory instruments. The paper recommends that SEC’s regulatory capacity should be strengthened to facilitate the exercise of investor rights and the strategic monitoring of the management of the capital market to enhance the return on capital for shareholders and the company.

Keywords: Regulatory Structures, Strategic Best Practices, Investor Rights, SEC.