The Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) are working together to deepen corporate governance to stabilise the economy.

Speaking at the fundraising ceremony for the new ICSAN national secretariat building project in Abuja, the governor of the CBN, Yemi Cardoso and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, lauded ICSAN for stabilising the corporate governance and public administration space through its innovative training programmes and guide of practitioners.

Cardoso, who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Philip Ndanusa, said his team has prioritised corporate governance in the CBN by returning the apex bank to its core mandates of price and financial system stability.

He stated: “The bank is doing that by removing all of the activities that are causing or distracting the bank from focusing on its core mandates. Not too long ago, the bank appointed 16 directors as a way of deepening its corporate governance values. The vigorous process that led to the appointment of those directors alluded to the fact that the Central Bank of Nigeria is a corporate governance-driven organisation.”

The CBN boss noted that transparency and accountability are at the core of corporate governance.

At the occasion, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun was represented by Aderonke Jaiyesimi, Director of Human Resource Management in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Like Cardoso, Edun also acknowledged the role ICSAN is playing in strengthening governance, ethics and corporate administration practices.
He said the vision behind the new ICSAN secretariat is not just admirable, but when completed, would be a vision statement for total commitment to capacity building for corporate governance and professionalism.

The Minister restated his commitment to supporting credible institutions like ICSAN which has been partnering with the government over the years in contributing to fostering integrity, corporate governance and national development.

The President of the Institute, Funmi Ekundayo, noted that though the project may look daunting, the group does not believe in impossibility, hence the current efforts at kickstarting the multi-billion naira project.

She said: “At ICSAN, we do not believe that anything is impossible. So, this is a project that has been envisioned for many years by previous leaders of the institute. We believe that we must start, even the journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step. That is why we have taken the bull by the horns and put our minds to it, knowing that we would leverage on the support and goodwill of our stakeholders across all the geopolitical zones of Nigeria.”

As governance professionals, Ekundayo argued that ICSAN members are crucial to the stability of the economy at private and public levels.

Her words: “Across every ecosystem, within any organisation, within any private sector space, governance professionals are required to guide and provide guidance to the board and the leadership of those organisations. Indeed, ICSAN members provide a strong support system across different spectrums of where they find themselves. When you are talking about corporate governance in Nigeria, ICSAN has been at the forefront of promoting the efforts of corporate governance in Nigeria for over 59 years.”

She added that ICSAN is proud to continue to support both the public sector and the private sectors of the economy, insisting that an entity that is well run on the principles of corporate governance, which are accountability, reliability, integrity and professionalism is the kind of entity that can guarantee a stable, buoyant and thriving economy.

“ICSAN is at the forefront of providing guidance materials for the public sector and the private sector on governance matters,” she explained.