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| Dr. Ndukwe, former EVC, NCC |
Chairman of Open Media Group, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has called
for the adoption of good governance by organizations in the country, especially
within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in the
country.
Ndukwe made this call at a one-day stakeholders’ management
forum on corporate governance in Nigerian telecommunications industry –
compliance with standards, processes and procedures, which held in Lagos at the
weekend.
He said that at this era, organizational survival depends on
corporate governance based on transparency.
“There is need for adoption of good governance of
organizational survival,” he declared, saying that there are some goals for
corporate governance.
He also said the primary responsibility of senior executives
and directors’ of organizations includes running the affairs of the
organization in an efficient manner.
Governance, he said, is more than rules and regulation but
all encompassing to include accountabilities, regulations, such that every
staff is made to understand and work towards achieving it.
Dr. Ndukwe pointed out that corporate governance is about making
a business successful, which depends on management capacity to create value
from human capital assets and less so on technology assets.
He described human assets as the biggest assets of every organization,
therefore, he advised companies to take the concerns of their employees at
heart, while admonishing employees to be upright and assist in building veritable
companies that are sustainable.
He further advised companies to go beyond Know Your
Customers (KYC) by adding ‘Very Well’ which entails that companies need to know
their customers very well.
Some of the international character of corporate governance,
he said, entails the degree to which regulators insist that operators within it’s
industry observe basic principles of good governance, saying this is an important
part of the principle.
He emphasised that the classical principles of corporate
governance are transparency and accountability.
Ndukwe maintained that all stakeholders have significant roles
to play, namely investors, shareholders association, auditors, professional
association, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), regulators, employees, and
customers.
“So it’s a collaborative effect to ensure sustainability,”
he said, noting there are some failure analysis that must be taken into cognizance.
These, he said, include enabling investigations into
corporate governance scandals by way of providing relevant support, insisting
that every board in order to avoid failure must have significant role to play.
Corporate governance in the Nigerian telecoms sector, he
said, must be sub-optimal, stressing that some failure pointers, encompass delays in
meeting financial obligations, delays in filing statutory reports and returns,
quality of staff representatives at events, and non-attendance or low
attendance at industry events.
He said, corporate governance framework without enough money, would likely hinder regulatory output, insisting that stakeholders, must have a sense of belonging so as
to work together, but that does not mean bad attitudes should be condoned.
“Yet self regulation is encouraged,” he said.
By ensuring the basis for sound corporate governance, he
said, would improve transparency, keep the regulator well informed, openly
admitting to customers of shortcomings and stating measures bring taken to
correct same.
“These are so critical for transparency. We need to be interactive with our customers,”
he said.
Remmy Nweke
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