CBi makes case for building businesses on integrity

The Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) has moved to make a business case for building Nigerian businesses on integrity and good corporate governance practices.

The organisation seeks to achieve this by bringing together, stakeholders on September 11, 2014, to examine moral case for ethical dealings on the second instalment of the annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity that started last year.

This year, the lecture will examine the ethical foundations businesses in Nigeria need to put in place to ensure that their net effect on all their stakeholders – government, regulators, business partners, communities of interest and the general public, is a positive one. Such foundations include sound corporate governance practices, values, integrity and mechanisms for ensuring compliance.

In addition to the moral case for ethical dealings that has often been made, this year’s Christopher Kolade Lecture series seeks to make a business case for building Nigerian businesses on integrity and good corporate governance practices.

Target audience cuts across CEOs and directors of companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange; CEOs of non-listed companies; DGs of regulatory agencies; DGs of professional bodies; members of the diplomatic corps, and other stakeholders.

This year, Arunma Oteh, director-general, Securities and Exchange Commission, will be joined by a team of seasoned panellists including Bola Adesola, managing director, Standard Chartered Bank, Lolu Akinwunmi, group managing director, Prima Garnet Africa, Ayotola Jagun, company secretary, Oando plc, Juan Elegido, vice chancellor, Pan Atlantic University, Michael Lakota, managing director, Siemens, and Seni Adetu, managing director, Guinness Nigeria, will be speaking on the basis of their Platinum sponsorship of the event. The panel will be moderated by Opeyemi Agbaje, senior consultant, RTC Advisory Services Limited. They will share their business stories on “The Business Case for Business Integrity,” stimulate discourse and convince attendees that “Integrity pays.”

We hope that this lecture will stimulate reflection and discourse by all stakeholders on the rationale for and the type of framework needed for sound corporate governance in Nigeria. The outcomes for this year will provide a springboard for the discourse for the third instalment next year.

Guinness Nigeria, as Platinum sponsor, and Access Bank, as Bronze sponsor, financially support the event, while the SEC is notable partner of this event.

The CBi is a company limited by guarantee. The organisation was established in 1997, with the mission of promoting ethical business practices, transparency and fair competition in the private and public sectors. Signatories of the convention undertake to observe the values of the Code of Business Integrity, both within their own organisations and in their dealings with customers and partners. The code includes both sanctions and incentives for the organisations involved.

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE