Politics
STAKEHOLDERS on Friday frowned against multiple regulatory agencies in the commodity exchange system in Nigeria.
The stakeholders spoke at a webinar organized by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the Centre for Trade and Business Environment Advocacy (CTBA) and the European Union.
They said that there were about three bills at the National Assembly seeking to establish regulatory agencies, urging the legislature to harmonize and create only one agency.
Mr Leonard Ugbajah, the Executive Director, Centre for CTBA, said though the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) was saddled with the responsibility of registering commodity exchange operators, there was no legal framework to regulate commodity exchange under the Act.
He said in a bid to address the lacuna, three bills have been sponsored on the floor of the National Assembly, seeking the establishment of regulatory agencies to fill in the gap.
“We are looking at the proposed reforms from the legislative perspective; there are quite a few bills in the National Assembly and some of these bills have been in there for two to three assemblies now.
“We have the Commodity Exchange Commission Bill, the Nigerian Independent Warehouse Regulatory Agency Bill, and the Warehouse Receipt Bill.
“We observe that SEC performs some of the functions proposed functions of these agencies and we are asking should SEC be strengthened to perform all the roles.
“Do we want to have multiple exchange commissions operating on specific or on a wider array of commodities as we have in Lagos state?
“What we can recommend straight away with respect to the three bills before the National Assembly is that, we do not need more than a new regulator.
“We cannot have SEC and then have Independent Warehouse Regulatory Agency, it definitely does not make sense and should not be allowed to stand,” he said.
The Senior Manager, Operations Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) Mr Oladotun Abiodun said that SEC had a lot to deal with and not much attention was being given to the oversight of some commodities exchanges.
“We will be in support of a new agency that really understands what commodity exchange means that will also be saddled with the responsibility of administration of warehouse receipt.
“So that the issue of the duplicity of regulatory agencies will be avoided; it also aligns with government policy of conserving resources.
“Setting up one new regulatory agency might just be the way to go,” he said. (NAN)
– Mar. 26, 2021 @ 18:24 GMT
Tags: Stakeholders frown at duplication of commodity exchange regulatory agency
