Rebecca Ejifoma
The Institute of Directors Nigeria (IoD) has called on all professionals in the country to practice the code of conducts with no compromise. The call was made by the Chairman, Standard Chartered Bank, Sir Demi Omotosho, in his speech at the new members induction ceremony of 87 members held in Lagos recently.
“Professionals should practice the code of conducts with no compromise,†he said. He described the situation in the country as sad. “There is a yawning gap between declaration and real practice. This is very bad. To a large extent, not practicing it is responsible for poverty, insecurity, impunity in the country today. You can trace all these problems to malpractice. Hence, professionals should practice what they preach.â€
According to him, Nigeria needs to construct a country of integrity and one void of corrupt practices. Adding, he beckoned on everyone to uphold the oaths they swear and practice the codes.
“There is inability to comply with our own self rules and standards. We have collapsed buildings and roads have gone bad with months of construction.†On this note, Omotosho urged the new inductees to uphold the standard and not compromise their practice. “It is, therefore, my hope and prayer that our members being inducted today will understand and appreciate the weight of the code of ethics and make us proud.â€
He recommended that: “Leadership of our professional bodies should encourage whistle blowing, adding, “Leadership of our various professional bodies must lead by example; walk their talk – not talking alone and rarely filling the chair. There should be no “esprit de corps†and no ‘godfatherism’; hence, you must be counted on the side of discipline as a leader.â€
One of the new inductees, Mr. Christian Omosu, expressed displeasure over some entities. “The code of conduct is not practised by some entities. The speaker quoted rightly that in some international companies, you don’t find Nigerians there anymore because they don’t trust Nigerians anymore. We need to do things right.â€
