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Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Federal Government has admitted it has been grappling with weak economy since 2016 when Nigeria slipped into recession with a Gross Domestic Products (GDP) tapering around 2.6 per cent in 2019.
Speaking at the 3rd Shell Company in Nigeria’s Ethics and Compliance Day, in Abuja, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, said that International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that Nigeria’s economy will contract by 4.3 per cent in 2020, lower than the 3.5 per cent negative growth it had earlier estimated for the country in April, 2020.
“The pandemic triggered worldwide containment measures, including quarantines, lockdowns, physical distancing etc. These, have, however, had devastating implications for global economy as they led to a contraction of the world economy due to their effects on global demands and supply. This has resulted in severe economic downturns, upward pressure on unemployment and poverty and shutdown of several businesses while greatly reducing the size of operations of many others.
“The challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic for economies and firms have accentuated the need for ethical conduct and compliance to laws, rules and policies in organisations and societies” he said.
The Minister urged firms to lead in sensitising citizens on the relevance of ethical conducts and compliance to laws in the general health of the society.
“Shell Company in Nigeria (SCIN) is a reputable corporate organisation and over the years you have been associated with certain business practices and behaviours that are considered to be of international best practice. These are values of honesty, integrity and respect for other people, especially the host community you do business with. But in recent times. there have been challenges in SCIN relationship with host communities in Nigeria.
“This is normal. From the perspective of the host communities, there is the issue of implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered into by SCIN and the host communities. A close examination of the issues shows that there are ethical issues on the part of the representatives of those host communities and officials of SCIN” the Minister said.
According to Agba, most host communities send their representatives to SCIN without a good idea of what their benefits are and their obligations to the companies.
To this effect, he said, the representatives, tend to serve themselves instead of the communities they represent.
