From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu
The Chairman of the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST), Siaka Isaiah Idoko-Aloh, has said that the tribunal has 54 cases to dispose of as the panel began sitting in Enugu State.
The chairman, who spoke to newsmen after the sitting of the tribunal, said that the cases spread across Lagos, Enugu and Kano states, as well as Abuja.
He disclosed that the tribunal which was dissolved by the government was reconstituted in August this year, saying that the 10-man tribunal had sat in Abuja and Lagos before coming to Enugu.
He said that the law establishing the tribunal empowered it to handle cases emanating from the capital or security market.
“It deals with disputes between clients and operators, operators and regulators. So, it is for operators, regulators, clients in the capital market, not cases for the ordinary courts. If its cases are taken to the ordinary courts, it may linger for a very long time; it can stay for over 10 years. It strictly involves only transactions,” he pointed out, adding that it is a specialised court.
He also said that cases brought before the tribunal are expected to be disposed of within three months, insisting that the cases are supposed “to be taken on the spot otherwise the risk involved and the aim will be defeated.”
The IST boss explained that the tenure of the tribunal is five years subject to another term of five years in line with the Act establishing it.
He regretted that the former panel before them which functioned for about five years could not deliver judgments on most of the cases brought before it.
He, therefore, promised that the new panel would deliver on its mandate, saying that appeal of cases from the tribunal would go straight to the Court of Appeal.