IST to Priotise Investors’ Interests

• IST to Priotise Investors’ Interests

The Chairman of Investment and Securities Tribunal, Mr. Isaiah Idoko-Akoh, has assured investors and other stakeholders in the nation’s securities market of speedy resolutions of disputes and giving priority investors’ interests.

This position was contained in a statement released by the IST on Monday. The IST was initially established under section 224 of the Investments and Securities Act 1999 which has been repealed and replaced by the ISA 2007.

It is an independent specialised civil court that operates a fast-track adjudicatory system with the mandate, among others, to provide accessible, affordable, timely as well as efficient means of settling/resolving disputes arising from transactions in the Nigerian capital market.

However, the IST was inactive for more two years before the Federal Government recently appointed new members with Idoko-Akoh as chairman. The IST began sitting two weeks ago, first in Abuja and then Lagos last week to resolve disputes in the market.

Speaking in Lagos, the IST chairman assured stakeholders that the Tribunal would put interests of investors first, saying there will not be a capital market if there were no investors.

He said, “In the capital market, the interests of the investors are paramount. If they are not there, then there is no market. And one of the ways of keeping the interest of the investors is to have a good enforcement mechanism. Whatever infraction that may come up, is addressed through a good enforcement mechanism. And the IST offers that if everybody is happy, then the market will move on.

“The world now is global, the Nigerian economy cannot exist without foreign element coming in to boost it and the foreigners cannot come in if they have no confidence that if they come in to invest, they will go back with good returns.”