The Nigeria capital market regulatory body, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has lamented that despite warnings and campaigns against unlicensed operators such as ponzi schemes, many Nigerians keep patronizing them.

Lamido Yuguda, the director-general, SEC, who made this lamentation on Friday at a
post-capital market committee (CMC) press conference in Abuja added as such patronage affect the capital market.

According to Yuguda, the commission had been fighting a serious war against ponzi schemes where people without licenses extort money from unsuspected victims.

He also said the commission had been working with other agencies to reduce
access to ponzi schemes on advertising platforms.

In his words, “We have been saying that people should only deal with registered operators
that have the registration of the commission.

“You must confirm that an operator is licensed with the commission before
you patronise them.

“We have done a lot of sensitisation to discourage people from patronising
ponzi schemes but unfortunately, a lot of people still patronise them.

“We have cases reported to us and our enforcement and police unit have been
working on many of these cases trying to resolve issues of investment that have
been lost.

“It is not really difficult to recognise a ponzi scheme. When a return is
too good to be true, desist from it.”

Yuguda further said the commission was collaborating with the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight money laundering and ponzi schemes.

He added that the commission would continue to enlighten the public to
desist from patronising ponzi schemes.

Yuguda also said the 2021-2025 revised capital market master plan (CMMP)
would be launched at the next CMC meeting in November.

He said the revised CMMP would help the market to meet up with current and
relevant trends.