A group representing minority shareholders of the Tourist Company of Nigeria (TCN), the parent company of the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, has appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to intervene in what it described as a lingering management crisis in the firm.

The group, led by Dr. Olatunde Okelana, Chairman of the Zonal Shareholders Mobilisation Committee, made the appeal during a protest at the headquarters of Securities and Exchange Commission in Abuja.

Addressing the protesters, Okelana said the demonstration was organised to draw the regulator’s attention to challenges minority shareholders of Tourist Company of Nigeria have endured for several years.

According to him, although the SEC had taken steps within its statutory powers as the supervisory authority of the capital market, it had allegedly failed to enforce its own pronouncements on the matter. “The minority shareholders have faced challenges for quite some time.

The SEC has done what it could within the law, but unfortunately, it has been reluctant to enforce its decisions. “We think there is an external influence preventing SEC from enforcement of their rules,” Okelana said.

He said affairs of the company is being without accommodating the interests of minority shareholders. “Minority shareholders no longer have a say in how the company is run,” he added.