Seplat crisis not related to its economic activities

The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda, has said that the current crisis rocking the indigenous energy company, Seplat, has nothing to do with its fundamental economic activities.

Yuguda said this on Thursday during the press conference following the completion of the first Capital Market Committee meeting for 2023.

The SEC DG said, “As a commission, we have made a statement on the engagement we have had both with Seplat as a company and Nigerian Exchange Limited, the exchange on which it is quoted and which is under our supervisory purview. We have examined the issues surrounding Seplat and we have come to the conclusion that these issues are not issues that relate to the fundamental economic activities of Seplat as a corporate entity.

“The production of Seplat has not been affected, work at all Seplat facilities is continuing as it should but there are issues surrounding some of the members of the board and some of the shareholders and we have urged the board to pay attention to these issues; both the administrative issues that has been raised and also the legal issues that have been raised.”

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Concluding, the SEC DG said that the commission was satisfied with the efforts of Seplat at addressing the issues raised with them at a meeting.

“At the moment, I will say that we are satisfied that Seplat is working in accordance with the agreements reached at that meeting to ensure that these issues are followed through by Seplat to a logical conclusion.

“We continue to receive updates from the board of Seplat about the current situation in the company and we will continue to engage and to support the company to go through these issues fairly so that the interest of the shareholders of Seplat is protected,” he said.

Seplat had been embroiled in a controversy after some aggrieved stakeholders accused the Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown of racism, favouritism for expatriate workers, discrimination against Nigerians, and breach of the good governance code.

The company has since denied the claims.

However, in the latest development, the Federal Government of Nigeria on Wednesday, filed charges against Seplat Energy Plc and its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Roger Brown, for alleged breach of the Immigration Act, 2015.

In its suit, the FG alleged that the defendants allowed Brown, whose visa was earlier revoked, to accept employment as the CEO of the company, without the statutory approval of the Controller-General of Immigration or the consent of the Minister of Interior.