A Federal High Court sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has convicted 21 companies for operating investment businesses without valid licences from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), imposing a total fine of N630 million on the firms.
The court fined each company N30 million and further ordered each firm to pay an additional N200,000 for every day it continued to commit the offence.
The companies were prosecuted by the Abuja Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under Section 57(1) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020.
The convictions followed charges filed by the EFCC on September 15 and 16, 2026, over alleged unlicensed investment activities.
Companies Convicted Over Unlicensed Investment Operations
The companies named in the cases include Ngwuoke Daniels Technologies, Credio Banco Ltd, Digital Company Ltd, Co Request Capital Nigeria Ltd, Mega Drop Quality Stores Ltd, Norland Global Ltd and Oxford International.
Others are Creative Agriculture Cooperative, Qnet Nigeria Ltd, Qnet Professional Skill Academy Ltd, Mastermind Energy & Agro Nigeria Ltd, Atus West Africa Investment Company and Eatrich360 Farms.
The list also includes Matag Agro General Services, Viables X Agribusiness Ltd, Kwakol Markets Ltd, Light Shade International Ltd, Value Growth Ltd, B12 Synergy Nigeria Ltd, Phresh Farm Ltd and Omega Pro Global Resources.
The prosecution presented intelligence reports, investigators’ statements, correspondence from investigations and responses obtained from the Corporate Affairs Commission and the SEC.
In one of the cases involving Mega Drop Quality Stores Limited, the EFCC alleged that the company advertised and operated financial investment management services without a valid SEC licence.
The Commission said it invited promoters of the companies for questioning in December 2022 and January 2023, but some of those invited failed to honour the invitations. The EFCC subsequently continued its investigations and proceeded with prosecution after further investigative efforts.
