Senate confirms Gwarzo as SEC DG
Nigeria's upper legislative chamber, the Senate, has unanimously confirmed the nomination of Mallam Mounir Haliru Gwarzo as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at plenary on Wednesday, May 13, 2015.
The confirmation by unanimous decision followed consideration of the screening report of the Senate Committee on Capital Market headed by Senator Ayo Adeseun, which affirmed Gwarzo as the best candidate for the position. The committee had earlier screened Gwarzo and expressed its satisfaction with his nomination and therefore called on the whole house to confirm his nomination by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Thereafter, some members of Senate, including the three senators from Kano State (Gwarzo's state of origin), Senators Bello Dalhatu Gwarzo, Kabiru Gaya and Bashir Garba Lado, also spoke in favour of confirmation of the new DG of SEC.
Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, and a former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, from Lagos, also supported his nomination before the Senate President, Senator David Mark, put the motion for his confirmation before his colleagues. The motion was then unanimously supported without a single opposition. In his comment, Senator Mark described Gwarzo as 'a round peg in a round hole' and expressed the hope that he would bring his experience to bear on the job.
A fellow of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Gwarzo was born 52 years ago in Kano. He attended Bayero University, Kano and graduated with Bachelors Degree in Economics in 1987. He later went to the University of Birmingham in United Kingdom where he did his Post-Graduate course in Development Finance in 1991. He was trained as a stockbroker and qualified as an Associate member, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) and in 2005 became a fellow of the institute.
His working career spans a period of 25 years in various organisations namely, Ministry of Trade, Kano State, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Century Merchant Bank Limited, Empire Securities Limited, The Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and MTL Global Investment Limited, prior to joining the board of SEC.