NSE INDEX - Shareholders Demand a say in AMCON

Wednesday 01 September 2010
- Culled from The PunchShareholders have demanded to have a say in matters concerning the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.Speaking with our correspondent on Tuesday, National Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association, Mr. Boniface Okezie, said he could not see the input of shareholders in the process of constituting the board.He said, ”No shareholder or market operator had been co-opted into the making of AMCON. He stressed the need to ensure a better articulation of AMCONs functions because the economy had been affected by different factors such as the global meltdown and the margin loans.According to the National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Sunny Nwosu, due process should be followed in the process of implementation of AMCON objectives.He noted that the banking reform issue had divided the shareholders into different camps.He said, ”Those who know what they are fighting for continue to be consistent with it, because we cannot take away the issue of due process in anything we do, shareholders are not being carried along.”The Chairman, Nigeria Professional Shareholders Association, Mr. Godwin Anono, expressed his support for the ongoing reform.According to him, ”I am in support of the ongoing reform, many of us shareholders are waiting, and we are excited to see investors take over these banks or merging with each other.”He noted that the regulator had promised to carry shareholders along in the process.He observed that if the financial status of the banks were not exposed, many of the banks would go down and depositors would lose their money.The National President, Nigerian Constance Shareholders Association, Mr. Shehu Mikail, noted that the ongoing banking sector reform was necessary because it helped to reveal the true state of affairs of the banks.Mikail said, ”The reform was a good one in the right direction because most of the banks were not sincere to shareholders. This should be a signal to other firms that they need to do the right thing. If the CBN did not take the initiative, we shareholders will not know what is happening to our investments.”