Business
Manager Lists IFC’s Role On Corporate Governance
Mr Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor, the Country Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), says the corporation engages in advisory services to the financial sector on good corporate governance.
Adegbie-Quaynor said this in Lagos at the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)’s Second Stream edition of Insurance Directors’ seminar on Corporate Governance organised in collaboration with Excel Professional Services.
The country manager, represented by Mrs Osareti Odaro, a staff of IFC, said that the corporation engaged in advisory services since the global financial crisis was traced to poor corporate governance.
He said it was to ensure the effective oversight functions of the board to protect the investors’ interest.
“Good Corporate Governance is one of the pillars of sustainable development in any organisation as such it has become a priority in IFC.
“The corporation has been providing deep advisory services to the Nigerian financial sector, especially the banking industry.
“It also helps trainers to teach board of directors’ good corporate governance and implement the best practices in their organisations,” Adegbie-Quaynor said.
He said that IFC was looking forward to seeing the insurance industry become top investment destinations in Nigeria.
Mr Fola Daniel, the NAICOM Commissioner for Insurance, said that the seminar was to assist the commission in the implementation of the Code of Good Corporate Governance for the insurance industry.
“While launching the code, NAICOM was well aware that it needed to do more to assist the operators to implement its provisions as a minimum standard in their governance regimes,” he said.
Daniel said that there was a need to enlighten insurance directors on the basics of corporate governance.
Hajiya Maryam Ciroma, the Chairman, NAICOM’s Board of Directors, said that the lessons of the global economic recession had drawn attention to the need for self-regulation to complement formal regulations worldwide.
According to her, this is where the current global emphasis on good corporate governance comes in.
“It is now a well established fact that there is no substitute for good governance at the company level.
“Equally true is the statement that no one can legislate good conduct, either at the personal or at the corporate level,” she said.