LAGOS – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday challenged shareholders on the effective usage of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in the transformation of quoted companies.
Mr Mounir Gwarzo, SEC’s acting Director-General, made the call at a national conference organised by the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), in conjunction with PR Plus in Lagos.
Gwarzo was represented by Mr Edward Okolo, the commission’s Head of Department, Financial Standards and Corporate Governance.
He said that shareholders should use AGMs to effect positive changes in companies, to ensure national development.
Gwarzo said that the main duty of shareholders was to pass resolutions at general meetings by voting through their shareholding capacity.
He said that shareholders should exercise their rights more efficiently and ensure companies’ strict adherence to good corporate governance.
Gwarzo said that shareholders should exercise their ultimate control over companies, to ensure they were properly managed.
According to him, shareholders should use AGMs as a platform to make or take decisions that will impact positively in organisational wealth creation.
The acting director-general said that shareholders must perform their watchdog function by reviewing the audited reports and accounts prior to the meeting by raising valid observations or criticisms where necessary.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Also speaking, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, Chairman, Lafarge Africa, urged the shareholders to ensure that their advocacy laws and regulations did not affect business and investment growth.
Osunkeye called for more effective collaboration and engagement between shareholders and companies, rather than confrontations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was titled: “AGMs as a platform for value optimisation’’. (NAN)
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