On NIPOST and the capital market
notices of Annual General Meetings and other time- sensitive mail items of the Nigerian capital market. The event brought together the who is who in the capital market and financial institutions to discuss ways of tackling the criminal activities that are prevalent in the capital market. With the theme- “The Nigerian Capital Market Mail: The […]
notices of Annual General Meetings and other time- sensitive mail items of the Nigerian capital market. The event brought together the who is who in the capital market and financial institutions to discuss ways of tackling the criminal activities that are prevalent in the capital market.
With the theme- “The Nigerian Capital Market Mail: The Crime, The Criminal and The Law”, the Postmaster General of the Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Mori Baba set the tone for the day with his welcome address when he said that the theme of the forum clearly underlines the importance NIPOST attaches to the mail generated by the capital market. He said mail items generated by the capital market are in large volume and as such NIPOST feels embarrassed whenever there are complaints that they are pilfered, tampered with, stolen or not delivered at all.
Mallam Mori Baba disclosed that NIPOST has taken measures to bring about improvements, including the sponsorship of a National Addressing Standard workshop to work out modalities for effective addressing system for Nigeria with the aim of ensuring the delivery of high quality service to Nigerians. He further explained that NIPOST’s collaboration with relevant security outfits in the country including the Serious Organized Crime Organization (SOCA) of Britain has been yielding positive results, adding that between October 2009 and March this year NIPOST intercepted 1,708 scam letters containing various negotiable financial instruments worth 17,297,047.01 US Dollars, 7,940,887.00 Euros and 1,617,211.06 British Pound sterling which he said were meant to defraud unsuspecting international businessmen and investors and further drag Nigeria’s image in the mud.
The Postmaster General who also disclosed that his management does not hesitate to hand over NIPOST staff found to have connived with criminals to appropriate law enforcement agencies to serve as a deterrent to others expressed the hope that collaboration with stakeholders in the Capital market will bring about a large scale change in the delivery of capital market mail. He therefore appealed to the stakeholders to recommend practicable and workable solutions that could further improve the operations of the Bulkpost Venture in handling mail items of capital market operators. He explained that NIPOST is hamstrung due to lack of adequate funds to upgrade its facilities, adding that although the Federal Government pays about 80% of NIPOST staff salaries the organization has received only N2 Billion Naira from the government to fund capital projects between 1991 and 2009.
The Chairman of the forum, Mr. Azuboku Udah who noted that mail fraud in Nigeria has become a cankerworm, however commended the efforts being made by NIPOST but said a lot still needs to be done to tackle the criminals headlong. Recounting his experience in the hands of these criminals (who in this case turned out to be his stockbrokers) who sold 47,000 out of his 50,000shares and another 43,000 shares he held in Union Bank PLC without his consent even when he was the Commissioner in charge of INTERPOL wondered what less privileged people would have done in such situations. He appealed to stakeholders in the sectors to assist in mapping out strategies that will counter the activities of the criminals in order to restore public confidence in the market.
Speaking in the same vein, the National Coordinator, Association of Shareholders of Nigeria, Sir Sunny Nwosu who distinguished himself as the stand-in chairman of the forum said that the capital market is fraught with a lot of criminal activities which he believes if not seriously tackled would scare away would-be investors and shareholders. He urged regulators to punish operators involved in Capital market abuses stressing that the Securities and Exchange Commission should aim at all time to protect investors and seek ways in which those who lose money to dubious operators could be compensated.
Sir Nwosu advised NIPOST to carry out a radical transformation of its operations in the sector just as it has done with the establishment of a Courier Regulatory Department which he commended for bringing sanity in the Courier Industry.
In his presentation, Mr. Adegbite revealed that the criminals who specialize in stealing dividend warrants and share certificates work in connivance with bank staff, dubious employees of NIPOST and stockbrokers including fraudulent relations of the actual shareholders. He explained most often, the criminals scan through obituaries in the newspapers and annual reports of companies with the list of unclaimed dividend warrants, match the names with those of individuals with unclaimed dividend warrants and thereafter fraudulently claim the deceased entitlements.
Adegbite stated further that in most cases the criminals who are mostly based in Lagos obtain vital public documents and then go to printers of fake documents to perfect such documents with forged signatures of shareholders and swear false affidavits in order to collect warrants and share certificates from company registrars.
Ibrahim wrote in from Plot 340, 3rd Avenue, Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja