The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has urged better involvement of institutional and other relevant stakeholders to imbibe the culture good corporate governance as an ingredient for business development and sustainability.
This was made known by Samuel Kolawole, resident of the governing council of ICSAN, at a press briefing of the 41st edition of ICSAN annual conference in Lagos on Friday, last week.
“Corporate governance is a mechanism which allows companies, and by extension, the whole economy, to function effectively and thus creates requisite trust for existence of a virile market economy” Kolawole said.
The ICSAN president added that the theme of the conference has direct bearing on Nigeria’s contemporary socio-economic reality as a nation that is just coming out of recession.
“I believe the depth of the discourse at the Conference will generate practicable ideas and useful blueprints on how Nigeria can navigate her socio-economic route successfully to the Promise Land, using the compass of the good governance” Kolawole said.
Themed ‘corporate governance as a tool for sustainable development’, the conference will be a two-day affair, with the plenary session holding tomorrow, October 26 2017 at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja. The dinner/award will hold on Friday 27th, 2017 at the same venue.
The institute will circulate recommendations on the cogent issues spawned at the forum in a communique to be issued at the end of the conference to all the relevant stakeholders, including corporate organisations, regulatory agencies, policy makers and of course, the Press.
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Also speaking during the brief, Bode Ayeku, vice president of the council, said over the time, what have been lacking in Nigeria is good corporate governance that will connect the natural resources and the human resources together in other to drive sustainability in the economy.
“We are gradually getting out of recession, but we need to be careful so we do not slip back, that is why it is necessary for us to have an idea of what went wrong and put structures to ensure that there is sustainability in whatever development we are talking about”
“For a country like Nigeria, the reason we are not at that level to put in place structure that we ensure sustainability, progressive and encouraged development, like other countries, they have structures on ground in terms of good corporate governance and source of support for their system,” he added.
Funmi Ekundayo, member of the council said the during the Award Dinner, some distinguished Nigerians who have made their marks through significant contribution to corporate governance and administration in Nigeria will be given recognition and bestowed with ICSAN Honourary Fellowship Award.
“This award is meant to encourage the practice of good governance by holding up corporate role models who have distinguished themselves in the fields of Corporate Secretarial Practice, Administration or Governance, through professionalism, integrity and dint of hard work, as worthy examples for others to follow” Ekundayo said.
ICSAN also engages in advocacy to promote Corporate Governance through periodic release of advocacy papers and guidance on diverse aspects of Corporate Governance and Secretarial practices. The Institute also releases timely policy papers on issues of public administration to steer the polity towards rule of law and good governance.
Anthonia Obokoh
