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FG omits religious bodies from first corporate governance code draft

FG omits religious bodies from first corporate governance code draft

Oyetunji Abioye

The Federal Government, through the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, on Thursday inaugurated a technical committee for the review of the National Code of Corporate Governance.

This came approximately 15 months after the Federal Government suspended a controversial National Code of Corporate Governance that specified a term limit for leaders of religious bodies, especially churches and mosques.

The controversial NCCG, which was issued by a former Executive Secretary, FRC, Jim Obazee, on October 17, 2016, was suspended on October 28, 2016, following public outcry against it by religious bodies and some sections of the corporate bodies.

The code had led to the announcement of the resignation of Pastor Enoch Adeboye as the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Inaugurating the new committee in Lagos, the Chairman of the Board, FRC, Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, said the 16-member Technical Committee on the NCCG would focus on corporate bodies and public-interest entities in the first edition of the code whose draft should be ready before the end of the first quarter of this year.

At the end of the exercise, Sulaiman said the technical committee and the FRC would subsequently work hard to come up with a draft exposure for a national code of corporate governance for the public sector and then the non-governmental organisations/not-for-profit organisations, which would include churches and mosques, before the end of the year.

The FRC board chairman said, “The technical committee will focus on the corporate bodies, corporations, banks, insurance, pensions and other organisations and sectors whose activities contribute significantly to the economy.  The draft exposure for this will be ready in three months. Thereafter, we will come up with that of the public sector and then the NGOs and not-for-profit organisations. We may not be able to fix a specific timeline but we hope to achieve that before the end of the year.”

The 16-member technical committee has a former Director-General of Pension Commission, Mr. Muhammad Ahmad, as its chairman.

Other members include a former President of the Institute of Directors, Ms. Bennedictar Molokwu; Partner at KPMG, Mrs. Tomi Adepoju; a director at the Corporate Affairs Commission, Garba Abubakar; Mrs.  Tola Omotola of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria; Mrs Benjamin Sallau of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Prof. Fabian Ajogwu of the Lagos Business School.

Other members are: MTN Company Secretary, Mrs. Uto Ukpana; Deputy Director, Legal, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Kofo Abdulsalam; Prof. Chris Ogbechie of the Lagos Business School; Mr. Abdulrahman Saleem of Pension Commission; and Mr. Godstime Iwenekhai of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The remaining members of the committee are: the Director, Supervision, National Insurance Commission, Mr. Nicholas Okpara; Prof. Nat Ofo of Igbinedion University; Mr. Tijani Borodo, a legal practitioner; and Mr. Nelson Anumaka of the FRC.

The FRC board chairman said the committee had a mandate to review and re-issue the National Code of Corporate Governance.

The high standards of corporate governance and financial reporting practices, which the FRC was set up by law to promote and enforce, are geared ultimately towards encouraging and increasing trade and investment.

In his acceptance speech on behalf of the committee, Ahmad said the task was daunting but noted that the calibre of its members would help to achieve a good code for the country.

Asked why religious bodies were omitted in the first batch, Ahmad said although religious leaders were guided by divine laws and would be accountable to God, those with commercial entities would be covered by the law governing such sectors.

The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, FRC, Mr. Daniel Asapokhai, said he believed the committee would do a great job for the country.

According to him, the committee members have been chosen based on their expertise on various fields.

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