The Senate Committee on Capital Market on Thursday refused to continue with the deliberations on 2025 budget proposal of the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) owing to discrepancies and errors in the figures and items presented.
The rejection of the proposed budget of the tribunal was announced during the budget defense session chaired by Sen. Osita Izunaso on the IST budget.
Following a motion by Sen. Seriake Dickson, which was seconded by Sen. Aliyu Wadada, the committee directed IST Chairman, Amos Azi, to return on Friday to re-present an adjusted of the proposed budget based on the correction of the observed flaws in the submitted budget
In his motion, Sen, Dickson, who confirmed the tribunal’s admission of the errors, said: “Mr. Chairman, the IST Chairman has publicly owned up to the shortcomings in the budget. I suggest they return to address the discrepancies and meet with the leadership of this committee for further review.”
The IST Chairman, Amos Azi, apologised for the discrepancies, assuring the committee members that the observed errors in the proposed budget will be corrected to facilitate its consideration for approval by the lawmakers.
During the opening session of the budget defence session, the chairman of the committee, spoke about the critical role the tribunal has been playing in resolving disputes in the capital market in line with its statutory mandate and the positive impact on the capital market.
The lawmaker said: “With a mandate to exclusively resolve disputes in the capital market, the tribunal has provided comfort to investors, resolving cases worth over one trillion naira since its inception in 2003. This underscores its commitment to ensuring integrity and transparency in the sector.”
