The recent employment of junior staff carried out by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complied with all the laid down procedures normally followed by government agencies in recruitment exercise, information obtained by THISDAY yesterday has shown.
Contrary to the reports that the current Director General of SEC has conducted a secret employment of northerners, most of them from Kano state, it has been disclosed that out of 20 candidates invited for interview, only three are from Kano state and the employment cut across 10 states which was done to address the lopsidedness of manpower distribution of the Commission at the junior cadre level.
According to findings, Kogi state has the highest number of four candidates, followed by Bauchi, Kano and Edo states with three candidates each. Besides, Rivers, Imo, Oyo, Benue, Borno and Kaduna were all represented in the recruitment exercise.
Although it was reported that the vacancies were not advertised, SEC received a letter of waiver from the Federal Character Commission. The letter was dated December 20, 2016, hence the commission did not advertise the vacancies.
“The whole allegation against the management of SEC stemmed from ulterior motives of some individuals who want to drag the name of the regulator in the mud for their selfish reasons. All the necessary process was followed in the recruitment exercise,” a market source said.
Meanwhile, trading at the stock market commenced 2017 on a negative note as investors moved in to take profit following weeks of appreciation towards the end of 2016.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index declined by 0.96 per cent to close at 26,616.89. Similarly, the market capitalisation closed lower at N9.25 trillion.
Investors traded 3.36 billion shares worth N3.76 billion in. The three most actively traded stocks were: Unity Kapital (3.07 billion shares), Omoluabi Savings and Loans (190 million shares) and GTBank (28.63 million shares), while the most actively traded sectors were: Financial Services (3.16 billion shares), Conglomerates (5.97 million shares) and Consumer Goods (5.48 million shares).
Sector performance was largely bearish as all indices closed lower but for the Insurance index which advanced 0,30 per cent on the back of gains in WAPIC Insurance Plc (+4.0 per cent) and AXA Mansard Insurance Plc (+1.2 per cent).
The NSE Banking index fell by 2.4 per cent as investors booked profit in GTBank (-2.8 per cent) and Zenith Bank (-2.4 per cent).