Stakeholders advocate stronger ethical, compliance frameworks in Africa

Compliance and governance experts have called for a stronger ethical leadership, compliance and accountability frameworks across Africa to strengthen investor confidence and boost global repositioning of the continent.

This call was made during the maiden Africa’s Ethical Compliance Future summit with the theme ‘Culture, Conduct and Global Standards,’ held recently in Lagos.

“An effective compliance program should not exist only for regulatory purposes. It should shape behavior, guide decision making and strengthen the trust within organizations,” Ayobami Adisa, founder, Graypatch Advisory and convener, Africa’s Ethical Compliance Future, said, reiterating that corporate organizations must move beyond merely speaking about ethics and compliance.

According to him, Nigeria is home to exceptional professionals, ethical organisations and responsible leaders. Hence, there is a need for collective responsibility to project Nigeria and Africa in a better light by promoting transparency, accountability, ethical leadership and strong compliance culture.

“We have to start doing the do and walking the talk. This is a call for organisations to make firm and formal commitments to implement effective ethics and compliance programs. Programs that are properly resourced; supported by leadership and embedded into organisational culture,” Adisa said.

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Muthoni Oriewo, compliance expert, said ethical values must begin at home and continue within the organisation. According to her, there is a growing concern of favouritism and unethical behaviour that are indirectly shaping workforce quality and culture in organisations.

“The future of compliance in Africa lies in the people we are raising, mentoring and sponsoring,” she said, reiterating that more parents across the continent are using their influence to secure school admissions and jobs for their children over more qualified candidates.

She added that such practices later manifest in workplaces and weakens governance systems within the organisation. “If we raise children who do not understand accountability and responsibility, we will continue to face governance and ethical challenges in the future,” Oriewo said.

Dabo Otunla, senior vice president and chief corporate services officer at IHS Nigeria, said being intentional about developing a culture of ethics and compliance will take any organisation to the next level.

According to him, ethics and compliance are things that need to be taken seriously and imbibed in the culture of any organisation. “It cannot be business as usual as it’s always been,” he said commending the organisers for bringing issues of ethics and compliance on a national stage.

Tayo Koleosho, chief of staff to the executive chairman, Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), said compliance is a key part of revenue administration across the world. According to him, compliance is difficult anywhere across the world.

“The major driver is the ability for government and for tax authorities to put together and in place the right infrastructure to be able to gather this data and then use technology to drive compliance,” he said.

Speaking to what Africa can do differently to ensure data is prioritized on a continent wide, Koleosho said that implementation in Africa is an infrastructure problem that must be bridged. “What you see going on in Africa now is harmonization of data. So, the more visibility that we can have by deploying more infrastructure to get at this data, then the easier it becomes for people to comply,” he said.