TCN minority shareholders back SEC’s oversight

Minority shareholders of Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) have commended the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its principled stance in overseeing TCN. The minority shareholders, who account for over 4,000 members of the company, said they had for years been at the short end of the stick due to family disputes and boardroom […]

Minority shareholders of Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN) have commended the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its principled stance in overseeing TCN.

The minority shareholders, who account for over 4,000 members of the company, said they had for years been at the short end of the stick due to family disputes and boardroom politics impacting their stakes in the publicly listed company.

According to them, the situation was almost without solution, with no dividend paid for so many years, until the regulatory intervention of the SEC seven years ago, which halted the affairs of TCN “from the spiralling loss, and lack of accountability before this intervention, which was welcomed by the minority shareholders”.

The minority shareholders spoke in a statement by a shareholder of Ikeja Hotel Plc and Chairman, Zonal Shareholders Mobilisation Committee for Annual General Meetings.

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The statement reads in part: “It is not in dispute that the Alex Ibru group holds a majority shareholding in The Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc (TCN).

“However, their conduct suggests a belief that, by their majority control, other stakeholders, particularly Ikeja Hotel Plc and the investing public, can be disregarded.

“This posture appears to stem from their significant interests in both TCN and Ikeja Hotel Plc, leading them to assume they can act with impunity in both companies without accountability.

“Indeed, Nigerian law requires that 30 per cent of the board be independent non-executive directors, and in some countries, the requirement is that they be the majority.

“It is imperative to highlight that majority shareholding does not empower such shareholders to take control of the Board to the exclusion of the minority.”