APBN harps on corporate governance, honours professionals

THE Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) has stressed the need for corporate entities to imbibe the ethics of corporate governance in their quest to advance in service delivery.

Besides, the group has unveiled plan to honour four prominent professionals with excellence awards for their commitment to standards and ethics of their professions.

The President, APBN, Foluso Fasoto, at the 31st yearly general meeting in Lagos, said the personalities were selected on merit having satisfied the criteria set out for the awards.

Among the awardees are; Balogun Omidiora representing the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Nasir El-Rufai, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors; Dr. Nosike Agokei of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria and Prince Julius Adeluyi of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria.

The guest of honour of the occasion, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole, said professional bodies derive privileges from the specialized knowledge of its members, and urged professionals to always streamline their corporate governance policies to match the growth aspirations of the entity.

“In Nigeria, corporate governance became very important after the collapse of the Nigerian banking sector early in the new millennium. Consequently, industry regulators evolved governance codes to prevent recurrence of corporate failure.

According to him corporate governance was a matter of greater importance for public liability companies because they raise capital from the stock market and both individuals and institutions invest vast portfolios of shares and other interests in public companies.

Corporate governance code prescribes the separation of the chairman of the board of directors from the chief executive officer to avoid the concentration of power in a single person. Thus, corporate governance means the principles and values which guide companies in their day to day organization of business and how stakeholders relate to one another.