FRC plans governance code for public institutions

The Federal Reporting Council has commenced a process to operationalise a corporate governance code for public institutions as part of efforts to enforce the rule of law.

The council’s Executive Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the council, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, disclosed this when he received a delegation from the Institute of Directors on Thursday in Abuja.

The delegation was led by the President and Chairman of the Governing Council, Chartered Institute of Directors, Alhaji Tijjani Borodo.

The institute is a leading organisation dedicated to addressing the professional and developmental requirements of directors and leaders across the public and private sectors, advocating for good governance practices in the Private and Public Sectors.

Speaking in his address, the FRC boss said the guidelines will increase business confidence, access to capital and trade, and promote good corporate governance practices.

Olowo, who lamented the absence of a code or framework that is nationally accepted when transacting or doing business in the public sector, solicited the partnership of the institute for wide coverage.

He said, “We are working currently to launch a governance code for public institutions. We believe that public institutions are the ones that are pivotal to the way governance is run. It affects the quality of our laws, and those institutions within that sector are the ones that underpin the society.

“But sadly, there’s no known code, or known framework that is nationally accepted as a way of transacting and doing business for that particular sector.

“We have called on you, but we’ll call on you again to join us, especially since we are in the phase where we’re doing advocacy, we are doing a proof of concept, we are doing presentations so that people can understand what we’re doing. So this is a very important phase for you to join us to see that this becomes a success.”

Olowo further stated that the council is still pushing for a new code of corporate governance for the not-for-profit sector.

“In a similar vein, we are also trying to push a new code of corporate governance for the not-for-profit sector. We thought that this was important. This sector is a sector that has a lot of national and international dimensions, and they are absolutely important in the way that we coordinate ourselves as a society.

“Most of the businesses that we run in the Financial Reporting Council has a lot to do with the values that you drive as an institute. So I call on even stronger collaboration between our council and your institute. And to go into the very reason why you are here today, I can tell you that in the true spirit of partnership and collaboration, we are looking for stronger partners, we’re looking for stronger partnerships in the institution that we currently work with, such as yourself.

“Just recently, about two weeks ago, we launched the SMA’s Corporate Governance Guideline. We believe that SMA’s are viable tools for economic development, but research has shown that they are not giving as much support as they would need to survive in this very, very difficult economic environment.

“So we believe that that guideline will provide the information that they would need to keep them in business for a long time. But we entrust you to know that we worked with you, with your institute, in the last years, especially in 2018 when we launched the Code of Corporate Governance for the private sector. That has continued to be the foundation for governance across our private sector institution,” he added.