By Kayode Ketefe
It was a forum in which
this writer, as one of the participants, was treated to numerous thought-provoking
and critically-engaging contemporary issues on commerce, industry and
investment in Nigeria amidst the framework of corporate governance.
The opening
poser “is it possible to do ethical business in Nigeria” understandably became
relevant and apt against the backdrop of our proverbial infrastructural
deficit, high cost of doing business and rampaging corruption.
It was heart-warming that
while all the speakers and discussants readily acknowledged the enormity of
challenges of doing ethical business in this country, all of them not only
agreed that ethical business is possible, but also offered pragmatic
perspectives on how it could be done.
The well-attended two-day conference had the theme “Nigeria of tomorrow: the challenge of growth, security and governance. The Chairman of the occasion was no other person than the immediate past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a fellow of ICSAN, Alhaji Kabir Alkali Mohammed, while the keynote address speaker was the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, Mr. Michael Ikpoki.
Many past presidents of
the institute, and of course, the Registrar, Mr. Dele Togunde, as well as the
presidents/representatives of prominent professional associations and the
president of the Association of Professional Bodies in Nigeria (APBN) Bala Bawa
Ka’Oje were also in attendance.
The President of the ICSAN, Dr. Suleyman Ndanusa, set the appropriate tone for the conference, when he presented an overarching view of the problem facing Nigeria and enjoined all sundry to work hard in rechanneling the nation towards path of redemption. He also sensitised the Nigerian government to diverse responsibilities devolved on it against the broadside of our numerous socio-economic problems.
Dr. Ndanusa said, “If we
must achieve economic growth as a country and have the same cascade down to
other levels, then government must put in place policies that would help
achieve inclusive growth and poverty reduction.It is obvious that the current
security crisis in the country has a lot of economic undertone. The level of
youth unemployment and poverty make our teaming youths ready tools for all
forms of criminality and insurgency.”
In his well-received presentation, the MTN CEO, Ikpoki, provided diverse perspectives on business management in Nigeria, using his organisation as a case study. He said, inter alia, “I believe you will agree with me that more often than not, the statistics and conditions associated with Nigeria and indeed Africa are presented as negative and unfavorable.
Not so however, the
recent rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP from $269.5 billion to $509.9 billion (or
N80.2 trillion), making us the 26th largest economy in the world and the
largest economy in Africa.
“It is instructive to note that Nigeria’s growth amongst other factors is linked to improvements in economic governance and management.”
Ikpoki concluded that “It is possible to do ethical business in Nigeria, in spite of all our challenges”.
Presenting a paper entitled “Governance: Cost of doing business in Nigeria”, the Acting Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Rasheed Adegbenro, painted a very gory picture of operating business in Nigeria, alluding to environmental, administrative, fiscal and economic challenges, including lack of infrastructure, security challenge and cost of finance facing entrepreneurs and resulting in sheer financial exorbitance of entrepreneurial initiatives.
This seemingly scholastic
paper was aptly loaded with comparative statistics from other nations. However,
Mr. Adegbenro did not stopped at highlighting the problems alone, he also
provided well-thought out solutions which included, setting realistic economic
objectives, create a Nigerian formula for success, diversifying the economy,
building competitive industries and infrastructure, making adequate and
efficient use of human resources and moving from resource-based to
knowledge-based industry.
An interesting dimension was added to already rich discourse with the presentation of paper entitled “Shareholder activism: Any added value to governance?” by the National Coordinator of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, who thrilled the audience with facts, figures and enlightening anecdotes on shareholders relations dynamics in Nigeria.
Nwosu answered the poser
raised in topic of his discourse in the affirmative, citing, among other
things, governance benefits his association had procured in the course of its
existence. These benefits included Protection of minority shareholders’
interests, education of minority shareholders, aggregation of shareholders
views, promotion of positive growth of the capital market and enhancement of
the practice of corporate governance.
There is no doubt that
the conference, which I thoroughly enjoyed, offered a laudable forum for
authentic and qualitative advancement of
governance issues in corporate Nigeria.
governance issues in corporate Nigeria.
Ketefe is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN).
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