By Ngozi Onyeakusi– President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has tasked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure efficiency in the discharge of its duties so as to attract local and foreign investments to the country.

The Senate President gave the charge on Wednesday in his remarks after the Upper Chamber confirmed the appointment of Mr. Lamido A. Yuguda (Gombe) as Director-General of the Commission.
Also confirmed alongside Yuguda are three Executive Commissioners Nominees namely; Mr. Reginald Karawusa, Mr. Ibrahim Boyi and Mr. Temidayo Obisan.
Their confirmation followed the submission of the report of the Committee on Capital Markets which was presented before the Senate by the Chairman, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
Amosun in hIs presentation, said the nominees were experienced and suitable for the job and therefore, recommended their confirmation.
Recall that the President Muhammadu Buhari had last week asked the Senate to confirm Lamido Yuguda as the new Director-General of the SEC.
His request was contained in a letter read out by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary last Tuesday.
The president also sought confirmation of Karawusa, Boyi and Obisan as full-time Commissioners of the Commission.
“Pursuant to Section 3 and 5(1) of the Investment and Securities Act 2007, I write to request for confirmation by the Senate, the appointment of the following four nominees as Director General and Commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),” the letter read in part.
Speaking after the nominees were confirmed, the Senate President said, “the Security and Exchange Commission must be efficient and effective in ensuring that we are able to attract and sustain not only domestic investment but foreign direct investment.

“People should bring their monies and feel safe with their investments here. This is essential to create the very enabling climate for investors to be attracted and retained here in the country.”
The New SEC DG, Mr. Lamido Abubakar Yuguda obtained a B.Sc. (Honours) degree in Accounting in 1983 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and an M.Sc. in Money, Banking and Finance in 1991 from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He also holds a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, Geneva, Switzerland and a Certificate in Investment Performance Management from the CFA Institute, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a holder of the CFA charter.

Mr. Yuguda has attended leadership training programmes at leading business schools including Harvard, INSEAD, IMD, Saïd, Wharton, Haas, Kellogg, Chicago Booth and London.

The new Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brings to the Commission more than three decades of experience as a central banker, economist, and investment manager.

He began his career with Central Bank of Nigeria in 1984, and worked in several departments such as Foreign Operations, Banking Supervision and Reserve Management. He also served in the Debt Conversion Committee Secretariat where he managed the Nigerian Debt Conversion Programme together with the pioneer staff in the secretariat.

In 1997, he joined the staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, USA, on secondment as an economist in the Africa Department. In this position, Mr. Yuguda assessed economic policies, offered policy advice and managed balance of payment support programmes in IMF member countries.

In 2001, Mr. Yuguda returned to the CBN to lead a team of staff to restructure and diversify the CBN’s growing foreign exchange reserve portfolio. A new investment policy was adopted, new asset classes introduced, the CBN’s in-house fixed income trading and settlement capabilities were upgraded, while a reputable global custodian and securities lending agent as well as several international asset managers were selected. The new SEC boss reached the pinnacle of his career at the CBN as Director of the Reserve Management Department from 2010 to 2016, where he inculcated a strong risk-aware investment culture and engendered a disciplined approach to investment evaluation. He retired voluntarily in 2016.

Mr. Yuguda has served as a non-executive director on the boards of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Premium Pension Limited. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the SEC since June 2019 and is happily married with children.