The Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) chartered has urged its newly inducted members to commit themselves to uphold the values of selflessness, fairness, efficiency, accountability, transparency, probity, and integrity not only in their professional decisions and behaviour but also in their private and personal decisions.

These, according to the institute, are the values and ideals enshrined in the Nigerian Institute of Management’s Code of Conduct.

President and Chairman of Council, NIM, Commodore Abimbola Ayuba (rtd), gave the charge on Thursday, during the institute’s 2025 induction/upgrading and re-certification programme, where he enjoined them to carry out their duties with utmost efficiency, subjecting their self-interest to corporate and collective interests always.

He reminded them that becoming a professional member of the institute was a call to duty and responsibility to the institute, the management profession, and the nation.

Ayuba said they were joining the elite group of Nigeria’s professional managers at a crucial time in the history of the country when there is a need for professional management expertise.

As professional managers, the NIM boss said they are expected to be of exemplary conduct always, which must reflect in their attitude to work, their relationship with and support for the institute and the nation.

“By becoming professional members of the institute, you are to be at the forefront in instilling and promoting these virtues in both private and public sector organizations. In your day-to-day work, you will be confronted with situations in which you have to make difficult choices or decisions.

“In such situations let your choices and decisions be guided entirely by the professional code of conduct of the institute. As members of the institute, we have the overall responsibility to start the change from ourselves and radiate this change in our families, organisations and the nation.

“I urge you to be change agents wherever and in whatever capacity you find yourselves. Insist on doing the right thing all the time no matter the pressure to do otherwise. I strongly believe that if we all adopt the right attitude, we will help bring the change that Nigeria needs now more than ever before,” he said.

Presenting the keynote address on ‘Ethical Leadership and Professional Integrity: Pillars of Sustainable Management in Nigeria’, Head, NGX Z-Academy, Ugochi Obi, while analysing the state of leadership in Nigeria, described the country as rich in human capital, talent and opportunity, however, challenged by systemic gaps in trust, accountability and transparency.

She said its headlines are filled with misgovernance, public mistrust and broken institutions.

She defined ethical leadership as the pursuit of doing what is right, even when inconvenient.

Obi, a talent development professional, hinged on accountability, transparency, and ethical role modeling, among others, as some of the pillars that sustain management.

According to her, success without integrity is a scandal waiting to happen.

She urged the newly inducted members to let ethical leadership and professional integrity be their compass.

The Guardian reports that 635 persons were inducted during the ceremony, and it was the first physical induction of the institute since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.