The Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mounir Gwarzo on Wednesday, February 24, disclosed that over N30 million had been paid to about 530 investors of failed companies in the capital market under the National Investor Protection Fund, NIPF, scheme.
The NIPF was launched by commission in 2015, following complaints by market investors who were unable recover monies invested in bankrupt companies.
The N5 billion-fund is to provide temporary succour to investors who are paid between a minimum of N5,000 and maximum of N200,000 in the event of any failure instead of losing out completely.
Gwarzo, who spoke in Abuja at the opening of a two-day workshop on Capital Market Laws, Ethics and Judicial Interpretation for Superior Court Judges which was organised by the commission, said the measure was among other things aimed at boosting investor confidence in the capital market.
He said: “When we launched the national investor protection fund last year in Lagos, we said we’d complains with respect to a particular operator; they collected people’s money and refused to pay them.”
According to him:”Part of the essence of the Fund is to find a way and means that we can temporarily alleviate thesufferings of those investors; not necessarily to pay the investor what he or she had actually lost but to temporarily give the investor some amount of relief and we’ve paid over N30 million to about 530 investors.”
The SEC boss further explained that the commission’s partnership with the judiciary has become inevitable to strengthen market investments.