Society seeks institutionalisation of corporate governance in Nigeria

THE Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria (SCGN) has stressed the need for the enthronement of behavioural and institutionalised mechanism for Corporate governance in Nigeria so as to guarantee the health, growth and sustainability of enterprise s . A Fellow and Director of the Society, Professor Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), who disclosed this at a media briefing to announce the 2017 edition of SCGN yearly Conference scheduled for tomorrow at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, said Corporate Governance has gone from a good-to-have system to a must have.

He stressed that the nonprofit organisation, has over the years continued to deploy its resources to enhance knowledge and practice of corporate governance best practices and ethics in Nigeria, through Research an Publications on the subject of Corporate Governance , intensive learning programmes for Board Chairmen & Directors, Seminars & Breakfast meetings; and legislative advocacy in the field.

According to him, Fellows and Members of the Society have played one role or the other in the issuance of most of the existing Codes of Corporate Governance in Nigeria.

These, he said, included the pioneer Code of the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Peterside Code under the chairmanship of Atedo Peterside and the N ig e r i an Communications Commission Code under the chairmanship of Professor Ajogwu, among other codes.

THE Kogi State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trace Union Congress (TUC) had directed their members to embark on indefinite strike.

This followed the state government’s failure to meet the demands of the labour u n i o n s .

This is coming just as the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) also issued a sevenday ultimatum within which they would also embark on indefinite strike if government fails to meet with their demands.

The NLC, TUC and the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council (PSJNC)

rose from a joint session to declare the industrial action last Friday.

The demands of labour include full payment of all salary arrears owed workers, stoppage of the clock-inclock-out, which is aimed at casualising workers and discontinuation of the contributory pensions scheme.

NLC Chairman, Onuh Edoka, said the strike was the only lifeline left for workers in the state to negotiate their survival with the governm e n t .

He urged the workers to stay at home for as long as it would take state government to pay outstanding salary arrears owed their m emb e r s .

“This is because, never in the history of our state has the civil servants recorded the hunger induced deaths among workers in recent times, not to talk of the trauma, anguish, pains, sickness, penury, truncation of children’s education, huge unsettled house rents and medical bills, among others that workers and pensioners are experiencing.

“Besides, the government’s white paper on the screening exercise currently being implemented is aimed at achieving massive retrenchment of workers, especially those in the directorate cadre and civil servants that have five years and below to retire,” he stated.