The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSAN) has urged the public sector to imbibe the same corporate governance code as the private sector.
ICSAN’s President, Mr Bode Ayeku, told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that this would help in achieving the desired economic development of the nation.
Ayeku said there is need for both sectors to be regulated by the same practices and rules aligned with best global practices to engender growth.
“Irrespective of the sector one belongs to, it is important to be guided by same code and principles, and it is a good thing we Aye [sic] members in both sectors.
“In every economy, we have the private and public sectors and it is only when both sectors are doing the right thing that the desired economic development can be achieved.
“We are unanimous that there must be a code of corporate governance for the public sector and now that the Financial Regulatory Council is done with that of the private sector, we expect them to build on same for the public sector,’’he said.
ICSAN president who spoke on fairness, transparency, accountability and disclosure, lauded the finance transparency bill, disclosing that a template for reporting all corporate governance evaluation was in the pipeline.
“We are working with the FRC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange to develop a draft which is currently being circulated for analysis.
Ayeku stated that the body is partnering with various tertiary institutions to inculcate the principles of corporate governance early in the minds of the youth.
“What is required of the educational sector is to have a more robust, best practices template that should be imbibed by all universities to tackle and handle internal and external crisis.
“There are no crises in banks for example because regulators of that sector have created a code to guide the affairs of that sector which is reviewed from time to time to ensure that it is in tune with current realities.
“Also, after reviews, their finding should be published, and if published, all institutions would be afraid of scandal and public perception of their activities, which if negative, would affect patronage.
“For tertiary institutions, we are conscious of the fact that we need move to the youth target market to capture them early enough to imbibe our ethical principles in them.
“More so with the growth in the number of young entrepreneurs, the minimum we can do is to have our professionals assist these organisations to ensure they comply with best practices for economic growth and stability,” he said.
Reiterating on the commitment of the institute to continue advocacy programmes at driving inclusive economic growth and development, he added, “The edge the institute has is that corporate governance cuts across all aspects of an organisation, so, we are able to impact the nation across board.” (NAN)
