The Director-General of the Institute of Directors of Nigeria, Mr Dele Alimi, has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, saved the banking sector from devastation by correcting some of the corporate governance infractions in the industry.
Alimi spoke in an interview with The PUNCH, noting that there was still more to be done to ensure that corporate governance was entrenched in the system.
“Truth is that we have come a long way when we look at corporate governance in the banking sector. I agree that for a long time, adequate attention was not paid to good corporate governance in the sector, especially because the regulators did not provide the required supervision.”
He noted that the situation was not a strange one as poor corporate governance had also been seen in advanced countries.
“In fact, the CBN must be commended for the timely interventions in recent times, which nipped in the bud what could have been a more devastating situation in the banking sector,” he said.
The CBN recently intervened in First Bank of Nigeria, reinstating its ousted chief executive officer and sacking the board of directors, criticising poor corporate governance issues in the bank.
Alimi emphasised the importance of a code of ethics to corporate governance in Nigeria, saying that it was not a sprint but a marathon.
He explained that the code of ethics was created to educate and help directors when they found themselves in difficult situations and would not know what to do, saying that ignorance was no longer an excuse.
According to Alimi, “The fact that this document is public has made people realise that there is a standard by which directors can be judged unlike before when anything would go. The code is a conglomerate of all best practices rules globally.
“However, what we have done is to look out for the best and bring them together within our own environment, taking into conclusion the peculiarity of our own environment and also the needs of our people and our economy. To an extent, it has impacted well, and shareholders now know what to do and how to hold people accountable when they are on boards of organisations.”
