AWKA —Director-General of The Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Ms Arunma Oteh, said, weekend in Awka, Anambra State that she was prepared to die for doing the right thing to save the Nigerian Capital Market.
Speaking after she was honoured by the Anambra State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Oteh said many people in the country were afraid that with the return of sanity at the capital market, they would lose their strangle hold on the economy, adding that she would continue to do her best to ensure that the ugly past did not return.
Arunma Oteh, DG. SEC
She said: “People have said that I am very courageous and I believe that I am courageous because I am an Igbo. When I got the letter that the Anambra State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists wanted to honour me as the most courageous woman of the year, I almost shed tears. This is because despite what people are doing to bring us down, there are people somewhere who are appreciative of the good work we do.
“I am not afraid to say that I will always do the right thing as the Director General of The Securities and Exchange Commission. I am not moved by what people are doing trying to pull me down, so long as I know that I am doing the right thing. In the past, we had a Capital Market where people wore suits and sat down to steal money belonging to peasants.
“But when I came in, I told myself that all these have got to stop. We must sanitize our Capital Market and build a trust that will let the poor man put his savings in it and be assured that it will not be stolen by people. What I am doing at the SEC, I am ready to die for. I am not afraid to die so long as I am doing the right thing.”
And I am very emboldened by the fact that people are watching. No matter the level of conspiracy against one, people are seeing your efforts and at the right time, one will be rewarded for every good work.
“We should learn from the horrible things that happened in the past when people lost everything after selling all they had to invest in the Capital Market Even up to 2010 it was still happening. People were told that their money will just double, and many of our people are crying today because they sold their houses, took their life savings and put them there. That is not what we are saying today.
“What we are saying is that if you want to invest, you must ask questions. It is not enough for us to just tell the people that once you put your money, it will double. You must go to meet financial experts and ask them questions before you invest.
It is your right to ask questions, but please don’t wait for people to come from other countries and invest today and when you are ready to invest, it would be that prices have gone to the top”.
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