Henry Uche
Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo has charged corporate leaders to sustainably uphold high ethical standards in their business leadership. He made this call recently at the 2020 annual Directors’ Conference of Institute of Directors (IOD).
Osinbanjo who spoke through online platform observed that ethical practice leadership in most organisations are no longer sustainable in the long run, saying that ethical behaviour remains indispensable for organisational success. He maintained that organisations which show empathy for every stakeholder have little or nothing to fear hence the unflinching support of such stakeholders makes the organisations to soars.
He stressed the need for corporate organisations to be socially responsible and environmentally friendly.
“We must pay close attention to good corporate responsibility and impact in society. We must conquer to ethical pitfalls and this is the role of corporate leaders because everything to rise and fall on leadership,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Garba Danbatta, who spoke through online platform stressed the need for transformational leadership and a new social contract to extricate Nigeria from the shackles of economic retrogression.
Danbatta said, “We need transformational leadership across the board and change our strategies as well as attitude and behaviour in all our dealings, meanwhile we need enabling policies and institutions to support the private sector to grow the economy.”
In his welcome address, the president and chairman of the council of IOD, Chris Okunowo, proffered that fixing market imperfections, showing empathy for the people and ensuring security and distributive justice in the country among other steps would go a long way to address the remote causes of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political unrest.
He charged corporate leaders to focus on long term benefits for all stakeholders while they make plans and take corporate decisions. “We must have the courage to make the right decisions at the right time and place, with the right motive to get the right results. To avoid business disaster, we must watch our ethical impulses and do that which is right at all times,” he said.
Meanwhile, economic experts at the conference maintained that one major cause of socio-economic and political uproar in the country is cronyism. They assert that leadership failure across board stems from the selection process of persons who occupy sensitive positions and whose decisions affect the whole system either positive or negative.
They challenged business owners and the political leaders to engage men and women who know their onions and worth their salt to man and steer the affairs of corporate organisations. They advised business managers and administrators to look beyond money and profits in their business conduct and be people-friendly.
They maintained that the government must rethink its economic Plans and work assiduously to meet people’s expectations adding that the demands of young people who took to the street must be met urgently to avoid further tumult.
They also suggest that federal character policy should be done away with and rule of law enforced. “We need transparency in decision making as well as strong institutions and accountability to build a progressive economy. Government must work to meet people’s expectations by making their actions match their words.
“We need to grow the economy not the government, the cost and size of government in Nigeria is too large. There is a need to cut down the cost of governance. Certificate is easy to get, but the character of the person occupying strategic positions should be our focus, so we must get the right persons to be in the right places at the right time with the right resources and right motive if we must get the right results.
“It’s high time government started taking positive actions geared to better the lot of citizens. They must stay on their Lane which is service delivery and let the private sector thrive if Nigeria must bounce back economically,” they opined.