Stakeholders in the capital market ecosystem have praised the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) for being an effective dispute resolution organ in the financial subsector.
At a virtual symposium organised in Lagos by the Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (ACMAN), participants commended the IST for resolving disputes in a “flexible and timely manner“.
The symposium was entitled “The Role of IST in the Development of the Nigerian Capital Market“.
IST Chair, Mr Amos Azi, identified its objective as the timely and efficient resolution of capital market disputes with fairness, flexibility and transparency.
He pointed out that any dispute brought before the tribunal was expected to be resolved within 90 days.
According to him, IST is the first of its kind in Africa and is recognised globally, noting that its existence has boosted
investors confidence in the Nigerian market.
He said with the existence of the tribunal, investors are assured of the timely resolution of disputes, thereby promoting sustained investors confidence in the market.
“The IST is an independent and specialised judicial body established under the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 to expeditiously and efficiently adjudicate exclusively on capital market conflicts arising from the ISA and it interprets laws, rules and regulations as may be applicable,“ he said.
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Azi said that the IST, which is a specialised court, is a critical market infrastructure which engenders market reforms.
He said the IST was established because of people’s poor understanding of the operations of the capital market, the need for the expeditious disposal of capital market disputes and the high cost of judicial processes in ordinary courts.
Mrs Toyin Sanni, Chief Executive Officer, Emerging Africa Group, while commending the activities of the IST called for the expansion of its mandate.
“The limitations for me is that there is still very low and poor investor knowledge of even the existence of the IST and so the challenge will be for us to commit to sharing information about the capital market,” she said.
Prof. Augustine Agom of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said that the IST has done a good job in terms of its contributions to the capital market in effecting changes, coming up with new ideas, testing existing ideas and testing group cohesion.
Dr Suleyman Ndanusa, a former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who gave the background to the setting up of the IST, said that it has been playing its role to make ISA a hub for the resolution of cases in the financial sector.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the symposium, anchored by Prof. Uche Uwaleke, President of ACMAN, had in attendance legal practitioners, capital market operators, capital market academics, among other participants. (NAN)
