By Jessica Dogo
Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria (SCGN) is seeking to partner with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on specialised and industry-specific trainings for Executives and Board of Directors in the telecom industry.
The NGO made this known when it paid a courtesy visit to NCC, on Monday in Abuja.
The President of SCGN, Mohammad Ahmad, represented by Tijjani Borodo, a Director and fellow of the society, said that the NGO would also like to partner in the area of capacity building initiatives for the sector.
Ahmad said: “The Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria would like to partner with the commission on capacity building initiatives for the sector and the organisations regulated by it.
“The society hereby expresses her interest to partner with the commission on Specialised and industry-specific trainings for Executives, Board of Directors, and the Executive Management of organisations in the Telecommunications industry around Board Leadership, Governance and Sustainability.
“The society would like to express her interest in collaborating with the commission to sensitise and create awareness of the guidelines within the sector and organisations regulated by it..
“We can provide framework for compliance and reporting of the anticipated corporate governance guideline.”
Ahmad said that the partnership was to promote good corporate governance and foster best practices in the communications sector and in the country.
“We strongly believe that the partnership will strengthen the commission’s position as a promoter of good corporate governance and setting an example to other regulators as a champion of excellence and progress,” he said.
In his response, NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, represented by the Executive Commissioner Stakeholders Management, Mr Adeleke Adewolu, said the visit was one of great importance for several reasons.
Danbatta said that the SCGN and the commission have had fruitful professional relationships, adding that the NGO was instrumental to the development of the telecommunications Industry Code of Corporate Governance issued by the NCC in 2014.
He said that it was a pioneer code, which was carefully designed to enhance governance in the Nigerian communications industry and which led to the development of similar instruments by other sectors.
Danbatta said NCC had commenced the development of guidelines for the communications sector, adding that members of the SCGN have been part of that process.
He said the NCC had recognised that critical elements of its statutory mandate can only be realised when sector players adhered to best corporate governance and ethical standards.
“This is why we pioneered the development of sectoral Corporate Governance Codes and this is why we insist on the highest possible governance and ethical standards for our licensees.
“This is also why we consider it of utmost importance to strengthen our relationship with stakeholders like the SCGN,”Danbatta said.
He said one of the most important strategies that the NCC had adopted was to harness stakeholder views in the development of its regulatory interventions.
Danbatta also said that SCGN, in its role as a frontline advocacy group for sound governance and ethical business conduct, had been a worthy partner of the commission.
He said that the commission looked forward to many more years of fruitful professional relationship with the SCGN and its members at large.
Mrs Chioma Mordi, Chief Executive Officer, SCGN, said that the NGO had corporate members who spread corporate governance across various sectors.
Mordi called on the NCC to be a part of the society for continuous access to information in corporate governance, both locally and internationally.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SCGN is committed to developing and promoting corporate governance’s best practices and business ethics founded by Prof. Fabian Ajogwu.
The society had collaborated with some institutions to develop sectorial corporate governance codes and guidelines, as well as organise capacity-building training for their sectors and industries. (NAN)
