The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has urged the National Assembly to be cautious in its oversight and investigative role, to avoid economic disruption and loss of investors’ confidence., Director-General of LCCI,  Mr Muda Yusufmade made the appeal in a statement on Monday in Lagos. He said that allegations and petitions received by the National Assembly about infractions by the private sector should be properly verified for credibility, before presenting such to the media.
“The most recent of such public pronouncements was the alleged N30 trillion revenue loss, and the allegedly missing 288 vessels by the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise, Tariffs and Marine Transport.
“Some 63 firms were accused of complicity in the alleged scam. These are grave allegations that needed to be subjected to proper scrutiny, before making them public issues.
“Their implications for the nation’s image and foreign investors’ perception are severe.
“The chamber believes and promotes the ideals of high ethical standards in business and would not support infractions against statutory laws by private sector entities.
“However, we would like to see a legislative/private sector interface characterised by mutual respect, fairness, and courtesy,” Yusuf said.
According to him, listing corporate organisations in the media over allegations have considerable reputational costs and weighty consequences for the brand equity of such organisations. He noted that frequent summons of organisations by the legislature had significant financial implications to organisations not domiciled in Abuja, in terms of costs of flights, hotels and other logistics for appearing before the National Assembly.
“The Executive time committed to appearance before committees of the National Assembly is enormous, especially since most of the committees would insist that appearance should be at the level of the CEOs of the companies.