[1] In this position she was responsible for regulation of Nigeria's capital markets, including the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
[6] Oteh was nominated as the Director-General of the Securities & Exchange Commission by President Umaru Yar'Adua in July 2009.
She faced resistance from the powerful Nigerian rent-seeking elite, but expressed confidence due to the backing she had received from President Goodluck Jonathan.
"[12] A new eight-man Ad hoc committee was set up by the House of representatives to complete the hearing on the near collapse of the capital market.
[13] As a possible fallout of the events that had taken place at the public hearings, Arunma Oteh was asked to proceed on compulsory leave by the SEC board, pending an independent investigation into the management of Project 50, a program packaged by her to commemorate 50 years of capital market regulation in Nigeria.
[15] On July 18, 2012, Oteh was called back to resume work after an independent investigation by the board-appointed firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, cleared her of any financial impropriety.
[17] In late 2018, Oteh left the World Bank to join St Antony's College, Oxford University, as an academic scholar[17] and an executive-in-residence at Saïd Business School.
[21] In 2011 Oteh was made an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in "recognition of her contribution to economic development and to transforming the Nigerian capital markets".