Why this year’s IoD conference will be different — Alimi

Ahead of the 2021 Annual Directors Conference of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, slated for Abuja, the Director General/CEO, IoD Nigeria, Mr Dele Alimi, speaks on the conference and other related issues. Excerpts.   There has been a series of conferences and programmes by the IoD, what is going to be different at this […]

Ahead of the 2021 Annual Directors Conference of the Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, slated for Abuja, the Director General/CEO, IoD Nigeria, Mr Dele Alimi, speaks on the conference and other related issues. Excerpts.

 

There has been a series of conferences and programmes by the IoD, what is going to be different at this year’s annual conference? 

The annual directors’ conference is the flagship of all our activities for the year. It is held annually by the institute and this goes beyond rhetoric. We try to focus on some key and salient corporate governance, business updates, leadership issues that have to do with what the private sector should be contributing to the Nigerian economy.

So, at this conference, it is like a potpourri of various directors of companies, chairmen of companies, board members, where we discuss leadership and corporate governance. It is concerning good practices and other key issues concerning leadership, corporate governance and good practices. Over the years, we have discussed quite a lot of areas, and quite a lot of topics in these areas.

For this year, we are looking at the theme ‘Creating the Future: Deepening the Corporate Governance Practice through Multi-Sectoral and Multi-Generational Collaborations’.

What we are looking at is entrenching corporate governance practices by incorporating the public sector, and new generations of directors who believe that there is a future in corporate governance and looking at the roles of the public sector and the roles upcoming directors can play to deepen corporate governance practice and even good governance.

Now, we are looking at what the younger generations can learn from current holders of directorship positions and the implications of having sound corporate governance and the growth of their businesses and generally the growth of the Nigerian economy.

On the other side, in the public sector, when we talk about corporate governance and reference to the private sector, the truth of the matter is that in Nigeria where the private sector is more involved in the economy, there is a need to look at how to entrench the tenet of corporate governance even in the public sector so that things can be done properly and for the private sector to have a proper handshake with the public sector.

With the theme of this years’ conference in consideration, what happened to the outcome of previous conferences and what has IoD not done right that needs to be corrected such that the next generation would not be talking about what you are to discuss now?

 Let us face that fact, we would continue to project for the future even when we get it right, the only thing that is constant in life is change. We would continue to look at how we could do it better so that we move on in our nationhood.

You asked what we have done or not done right, on the other side of it, I want to say that the story or the journey of corporate governance is not a sprint, it is a marathon. What that means is that it is not a 100-meter dash that you just start and end in seconds, it is a marathon that is going to take a long time.

So instead of looking at it from the perspective of what we have not done right, I want us to look at it from the perspective of how we are extending the frontier of corporate governance.

I think Nigeria has come a long way from where we were; we are better than where we were in terms of corporate governance today.

But that does not mean we are where we should be. So what conferences like this are now doing, is to have what I will call an all-encompassing conference, where everyone should be involved in discussing the future of corporate governance in the country.

So, we are looking at the public sector, we are looking at the private sector and the future corporate governance practitioners, who will either be running the public sector, or the private sector and involve them in this progress.

So if they are going to be doing something in the future, they would be looking at how to extend the frontiers and how to do better.

So, what we’re saying now is that as we continue to preach this gospel, there is a need for a deliberate attempt to bring in the younger generation. It is not a situation where either by error or by mistake, they just come into the conversation.

We are saying, bring them in deliberately, provide mentorship for them, and provide the pathway for them, to also learn from some current practitioners, so that as we look into the future, we are talking about the system that is already safe and fruitful.

We should have done this before. So for me, the next best time is now. And that is what we are doing. 

We cannot talk about the IoD without talking about the nation’s civil service. Many people didn’t take the civil service seriously as expected. Is IoD comfortable with the state of the civil service in the country, especially in service delivery to the nation?

 On the IoD being satisfied with the service delivery, the answer is going to be yes and no. When I say no, the only thing that is constant is change. And it is no because we can do better than we are doing now.

When you look at where we are coming from, the public sector over the years has been in bubbles. Gradually, there has been moves and people believed that the public sector has ‘no business in business’ and must now pass most of these to the public sector.

But if the public sector still remains in charge of policy formulation, definitely, they have very key role in economic development. Don’t forget that physical policies, monetary policies, are basically raised in the public sector. So, there must be a way to ensure that there is a deeper knowledge of corporate governance standards of corporate governance principles in all sectors of the economy.

And that is why, in the last few years, I think, in the last four years, Nigeria has gone beyond just private sector advocacy in terms of corporate governance. We have quite a number of top civil servants, who are members of the institute, at both the federal and state levels and we are collaborating with even more states to expand that cycle.

In every other part of the world, you find that people working in the public sector, gain tremendous knowledge and are still very good to work with in the private sector, after they retire.

The reason why people in the public sector are coming back to the private sector is because they are very knowledgeable. And they are quite adept in the running of organizations. So, they come into the private sector and we have seen them becoming chairmen of boards of private organizations.

So, what we are trying to do now is to prepare them for that transition to be able to use the knowledge of good corporate governance where they are presently, and also to prepare them for the transition from the public office into private boardrooms; that is what we are doing.

So, by doing that, we will successfully improve the quality of programmes in Nigeria, and also prepare them to be more useful for the economy, even after their service to the nation. So, for me, it is a question of whether they were satisfied, or not; it’s neither here nor there.

But what we should be looking at is what is the contribution of every part of the economy to improving the quality-of-service delivery at all levels – both public and private.

The nation’s economy has not fared better despite the drivers in both public and private sectors being members of the IoD, don’t you think this is a bit of a lapse on your part?

 The IoD is an advocacy and our members are top bureaucrats or top directors in both private and public organisations and are very much involved in what is happening in the nation’s economy.

You are right that most of the people running private businesses are members of the IoD and I can proudly tell you that IoD has been involved in the capacity development of our members because things have changed, especially when you talk about public companies these days. There are very stringent rules and the expectations of directors have continued to change.

So, what IoD has been doing silently is to continue to improve the capacity of directors at all levels, improving their understanding of the rules of running organizations; improving the capacity of understanding the running of organizations, including improving their understanding of expectations of all stakeholders in that side. And I would say, to a very large extent we have been doing that with Algae now for close to five years.

And I have seen the number of people coming into the institute for capacity development programmes which is increasing by the day.

I am proud to say that I have not had any member of the institute fall short of the expectations. Today, we have a pool of directors that we refer to as independent directors, who deliver very well and that organisations keep coming back to us to introduce independent directors to them shows that IoD is actually doing a good job with all these.