The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria has assured the investing public that it will continue to deploy its enforcement mechanisms, including collaboration with other relevant government agencies and stakeholders, in its bid to curtail the activities of Ponzi schemes.
The commission’s Executive Commissioner Operations, Mr. Dayo Obisan, made this pledge during an Investor Education Programme organized by the SEC for staff of the Federal Road Safety Corps on Wednesday in Abuja.
Represented by Director Market Development Department Mr. Nestor Ikeagu, the Executive Commissioner said the promoters of these unscrupulous schemes usually pose as genuine operators in the capital market to defraud investors of their money with mouth-watering promises of return on investments.
Obisan said: “This has made it difficult for investors to differentiate between genuine and false investment opportunities. The activities of these Ponzi schemes promoters have posed a huge challenge to the Commission. In combating them, we are working in collaboration with other agencies to nip their activities in the bud.
“Also, the Commission is working tirelessly to ensure investors are aware of these nefarious activities through investor education programmes. We urge the FRSC to partner with us in the fight against Ponzi schemes by reporting to the SEC anytime such activities are noticed through the commission’s website and social media handles”, he added,
He expressed the hope that the programme would give participants an over view of the capital market and afford them the opportunity to learn how to invest in the Nigerian capital market Including Collective Investment Schemes being managed by professionals in addition to exposing participants to the activities of Ponzi schemes and how to identify them.
The Executive Commissioner pointed out that the SEC had a dual mandate to regulate and develop the Nigerian capital market that is fair and orderly; and engenders investor confidence adding that a key aspect of the SEC’s market development role is enlightenment and investor education.
In his remarks, Acting Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Mr. Dauda Biu, harped on the importance of training the officers of the corps on financial literacy in order to give them the knowledge to identify fraudulent schemes and how to avoid them
Represented by Corps Commander, Anume Osuamkpe, the Corps Marshall said Nigerians would only be able to avoid fraudulent investment schemes if they acquired the requisite knowledge.
He said: ” This training is very important as it will enable staff of the FRSC have knowledge of the workings of these fraudulent schemes and know how to avoid them.
“It will also help them know the products available in the capital market and aid them in taking decisions of how to invest their funds wisely”.
Noting that many Nigerians have lost huge sums of money to Ponzi schemes as the operators’ approach victims with mouth-watering offers that are sometimes too difficult to resist, Biu said that “with programmes like this, Nigerians will be able to know the right investments and how to access such investments in the capital market.”
