Just last month, the Nigerian Stock Exchange announced the election of Mr. Abimbola Ogunbanjo as the new President of National Council of the Exchange. Mr. Ogunbanjo joined the National Council of The Exchange in 2011 and has been the First Vice President since 2014.
He is the Chairperson of the Demutualization Advisory Committee of the NSE. He currently serves as the Managing Partner of the renowned leading corporate law firm of Chris Ogunbanjo & Co (Solicitors).
Also elected to the council were Mr. Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud SAN, current President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and one of the founding partners of the law firm of DIKKO & MAHMOUD. He was elected as First Vice President while Mrs Catherine Echeozo, former Deputy Managing Director of GT Bank, was elected as Second Vice President. It appears though, that this announcement is the first of many to come at the exchange before the year runs out.
Last two weeks, Nairametrics reported that, Haruna Jalo-Waziri, the Executive Director, Capital Markets has now been appointment the Managing Director of the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc. The appointment is subject to confirmation of the Security and Exchange Commission. Reports indicate this is why his appointment is yet to be officially announced by the Exchange and the CSCS.
Since the appointment, attention has turned to who his replacement would be. According to reliable sources, a replacement would likely be sourced for Jalo-Waziri. We also gather the replacement may happen under an enterprise renewal project to make NSE “more globally competitive”.
Appointment of Jalo
Some analysts who spoke to Nairametrics suggest Jalo’s appointment as the CEO of CSCS did not come as a surprise as he is a “very experienced investment banker”. We gathered, he went through a transparent recruitment process like other candidates which was coordinated by a leading consulting firm.
Many had thought Bola Adeeko, will continue in the role, a position he had held in acting capacity after Bukka Kyari resigned in December 2016. Commenting in a release appointing Adeeko as interim CEO, Onyema had said
“Mr. Adeeko is deeply familiar with the Company’s strategy and leadership team, which consists of highly accomplished capital market thought leaders with long-tenure in the business. We believe CSCS is in strong hands during this transition period. The Board is confident that Mr. Adeeko will serve CSCS and its stakeholders well during this interim period as we search for a new CEO”.
However, we reliably gathered he did not apply for the substantive role. A pre-condition for his redeployment was that he will not apply for the role during the recruitment process, explaining why he will not continue to become the CEO of CSCS.
Management restructuring?
The Nigerian Stock Exchange is said to be gearing up for its long-planned demutualization exercise. Ahead of this plan, intelligence suggest a change in the management structure of the exchange will be the next phase of the plans. This, we understand might include the introduction of new departments while some existing units might be collapsed to improve efficiency.
Looking Forward
The exchange has embarked on some reforms in the past and even though much of it has been in the area of technology and capital market operations. However, the Exchange should intensify its Regulatory compliance and transparency for most quoted companies to reduce retail investor apathy in the capital market in Nigeria. As the exchange take more steps towards its demutualization, we expect to see a more efficiently run exchange with focus on rejuvenating the retail market
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