03072019 - Buhari's Ruga policy, an explosive issue — SOYINKA

38 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2019
Adhering to Corporate Governance
principles will grow economy,
companies —ICSAN boss
By Princewill Ekwujuru
*Mr. Samuel Kolawole
In this interview Mr.
Samuel Kolawole, President
of the Institute of
Corporate Secretaries
and Administrators of
Nigeria (ICSAN), speaks
of the national code
of corporate governance,
what the country,
the economy and
organizations stand to
gain and digitalization of
the institutes activities.
Excerpt.
RECENTLY, the feder
al government convened
a national program
on Corporate Governance,
what is your view on this?
Well, Corporate Governance
is necessary for the
success of organizations and
the interest of the society at
large, we find ourselves as
the front-runners and the
people who are trained professionally
in this area, and
definitely we will support the
national code of corporate
governance and its application
to ensure that organizations
are run properly
and are managed properly
in the interest of all
stakeholders because if organizations
apply good corporate
governance principles
the organizations will
thrive, and if organizations
thrive, the economy will
thrive and the nation will
also grow and if they don’t
there will be issues.
So it is a good thing that
has been done, of course,
there will be controversies
as to what the content
should be just like any law
or any regulation in any
country or jurisdiction, people
will have their different
opinions on how is to be
done or practiced.
The step has been taken
we believe that this will help
to improve the corporate
governance landscape of
Nigeria, good enough in the
steering committee that put
together this code have
three of our members, so
that tells you about whom
we are and the experiences
and knowledge our members
have to be able to handle
something like this.
So we are happy that the
national code of corporate
governance is out, is a continuous
process, all the
teething issues will be will
dealt as the application of it
commences.
What role is the institute
playing to ensure most organization
embraces the
national code of corporate
governance?
Yes, one of the things we
are doing is the obvious one
we are doing like I mentioned
is the corporate governance
platform through
which were educating people
about corporate governance
principle, about
how this national can be
applied, but to let people
understand that this is not a
code that is made to stifle
corporate organizations,
but to let them understand
the values of good corporate
governance, because of a
lot of activities we also talk
about corporate governance
and try to enlighten
people on what it is all about
and how it can be handled.
For example, we have the
annual roundtable of corporate
governance which of
course is one of our flagship
event we hold annually and
every year, through this medium
we are able to enlighten
the society about the
good principles of corporate
governance and of
course in the training of our
members we also emphasize
this, then that helps to
spread the knowledge and
the understanding.
It also helps to give people
skill to be able to practice
the principles of good
corporate governance.
How digitalized are your
activities considering the
fact that most corporate
bodies are digitalized?
We have improved on that
but there are rooms for further
improvements to properly
digitalize the activities
of the institute we now do
registration for examination
online we still have
some who are not able to do
that we also still have a way
to ensure that they are not
left out even before this
present administration took
over the institute had started
online voting exercise
for our elections. Our website
is been improved from
time to time to ensure we
can leverage on technology
to function properly as an
institute , but there is still
quite a lot to do in that area.
What are the challenges
you met on ground in the
institute?
I would not say I took
up challenges, you know
organizations like this are
going concerns, you find
things that are going on
well, you find things that
you have set out for yourself
you want to achieve.
What I believe that my
challenges were things I set
out for myself to achieve
within the period that I
would be president of the
institute.
I believe that over the
years those people that piloted
the affairs of the institute,
the past presidents, and
the Council have done their
own bit. We have some
(1:40) challenge that are
not really challenges as
such, are those things I have
set out for myself to achieve
as the president of the institute.
When I came in as president
there were a number of
things that we set out to
achieve; working with
Council that I would be privileged
to chair.
One of the things was
the visibility of the institute,
making people know and
understand what the institute
is all about among Nigerians.
What the institute
does, that was one of them.
We had the issue of the
secretariat which physically
was not that comfortable
for those working there and
befitting for our members,
of course, at that time we
were also looking at the
possibility of rebuilding the
secretariat.
I also had the idea that
since this institute is a
knowledge based institute
not just by the qualifying
examinations, we should be
able to enrich the body of
knowledge in the society,
based on my own background,
having come from
a publishing background I
wanted to leave the legacy
of publishing, we should be
able to put it down there that
people should be able to
have access to, being able
to publish books and journals
were also one of the
things I was set out to do.
We also had the issue of
our linkage program with
universities, I thought I
could take further and faster
than we have been doing,
that was also a challenge for
us. There were also many
things we set out to do.
How can you appraise
your administration in the
last two years?
I would say that the administration
that I have been privileged
to lead in the last two
years because the administration
is not for the president
alone.
The administration consists
of the president and members
of the council i was privileged
to work with we have tried to
take the institute from the level
which we met it to a higher
level. In the area of publication,
dissemination of knowledge
for the first we started
the institutes journal we had
an edition out and we believed
that it should be something
that is continuous, the journal
which is professional in nature.
Also the institute’s magazine
has been improved
upon to make it more professional,
as it is, in terms of increasing
awareness.
Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen
nominated to lead EU Commission
EU leaders have put
forward their nominations
for the bloc’s top
jobs, with a woman for
the first time proposed as
European Commission
chief.
The surprise choice of
German Defence Minister
Ursula von der Leyen
to replace Jean-
Claude Juncker came after
the main front-runners
were rejected.
IMF chief Christine
Lagarde has been nominated
as the first woman
to head the European
Central Bank (ECB).
The announcement follows
days of difficult negotiations.
Belgian liberal Prime
Minister Charles Michel
is nominated to replace
European Council
President Donald Tusk
while Spain’s Josep Borrell
is proposed as foreign
policy chief.
The fifth key nomination
- President of the
European Parliament - is
to be chosen on Wednesday
and most of the roles
must be ratified by parliament.
“We have agreed the
whole package before the
first session of the European
Parliament,” said
Mr Tusk.
He said Germany had
abstained on Ms Von der
Leyen’s nomination over
coalition issues but
pointed out that Chancellor
Angela Merkel
herself had backed her.
French President Emmanuel
Macron said the
nominations were “the
fruit of a deep Franco-
German entente”.
“Von der Leyen is a
very good candidate and
a very good choice to
head the European
Commission,” he told
reporters, adding that
Ms Lagarde’s “capacities
and competences...
totally qualified her” for
the ECB.
Irish Prime Minister
Leo Varadkar said the
nomination of two women
for key jobs sent a
powerful message that
the EU was leading the
way towards gender
equality.
However, there were
concerns that the European
Parliament’s own
contest for the main job
- the “Spitzenkandidaten”
(lead candidate) process
- had been cast
aside. Neither the winner
of that process, Manfred
Weber of Germany, nor other
frontrunners were selected
by EU leaders.
“You have to compromise
in politics,” Mr Varadkar
insisted, adding that the
centre-right Mr Weber
would most likely be given
the shared presidency of
the European Parliament
along with a Socialist figure.
There was also surprise
that four of the main jobs
had gone to Western Europeans,
with no nominations
from Eastern Europe.
However, the eastern
states are thought to have
been strongly behind Ms
Von der Leyen’s nomination,
having rejected a compromise
involving Dutch
Labour leader Frans Timmermans
the night before.
House panel sues Treasury, IRS over
Trump’s tax returns
A U.S. DEMOCRATIC-led
House of Representatives
panel on Tuesday
filed a long-awaited
lawsuit in federal court to
demand President
Donald Trump’s individual
and business tax returns.
The House Ways and
Means Committee filed
the lawsuit against the
U.S. Treasury Department
and Internal Revenue
Service after Treasury
Secretary Steven
Mnuchin refused a legal
request for the records
and defied two congressional
subpoenas seeking
the returns.The filing
sounded the starting gun
in what is widely expected
to be a lengthy legal battle
that is likely to end in
the Supreme Court.
There was no official
comment from the Trump
administration, but
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow
said: “We will respond
to this latest effort
at presidential harassment
in court.” Democrats
want Trump’s tax
records from 2013 to
2018, which legal experts
have said could shed light
*Ursula von der Leyen
on the president’s business
dealings. Such a legal
process, experts said,
could unfold slowly and
become an issue in the
2020 election.
Mnuchin refused to
hand over the returns after
House Ways and
Means Committee
Chairman Richard Neal
asked for the documents
on April 3, under a federal
law that says Treasury
“shall furnish” such
records upon request.
The committee believes
it is the first time an administration
has denied
such a request, the lawsuit
said.
“In refusing to comply
with the statute, defendants
have mounted an
extraordinary attack on
the authority of Congress
to obtain information
needed to conduct oversight
of Treasury, the IRS,
and the tax laws on behalf
of the American people,”
the lawsuit said.
Neal said in a statement
that the panel was
now pursuing the matter
in court because of the
administration’s “noncompliance.”
“ The judiciary
has been a bulwark
against Trump’s steaming
corruption and roughshod
lawlessness. I have no
doubt our lower courts will
side with Congress,” Representative
Bill Pascrell, a
Ways and Means Democrat
who has helped lead the
campaign to obtain
Trump’s returns, wrote on
Twitter.
Democrats who wanted
Neal to move to court more
quickly expressed relief at
the filing. “This long-overdue
legal action is needed
to keep this bad president
from setting a bad precedent,”
Representative Lloyd
Doggett said in a statement.
Congressional Republicans
condemned the effort
as a dangerous political
fishing expedition by Democrats
that could “weaponize”
confidential taxpayer
information.
“The Democrats’ partisan,
flawed lawsuit continues
their unprecedented
and illegitimate pursuit to
expose President Trump’s
private tax information,”
Representative Kevin
Brady, the top Republican
on Neal’s committee, said
in a statement.
U.N. investigator reports
possible fresh war crimes in
Myanmar