Institute of Directors, (IoD) Nigeria and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) are partnering to organise a corporate governance training for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
IoD President and Chairman, Governing Council, Alhaji Ahmed Rufai Mohammed stated this when he paid courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of FRC, Mr. Daniel Asapokhai and his management team in Lagos.
Mohammed said the new era of doing business requires that SMEs maintain high standards of business ethics and integrity.
He said SMEs are expected to discharge their statutory duties of ensuring that risks are managed prudently in an orderly and informed manner. According to Mohammed, SMEs are economic boosters and would pose a big challenge to the economy in the long run if the owners failed to embrace the best practices of doing business in their dealings.
Mohammed said the appointment of Mr. Asapokhai as a wise choice by the government and coming at a right time. He said it will douse the tension generated by the divergent views about the corporate governance code in the country, said IoD Nigeria considered the SMEs as buffer to the economy.
Asapokhai said there was an urgent need to push the SME operators to the next level of doing business, not necessarily in building facilities, but in organising their businesses better.
He called for a bouquet of courses to take to the SMEs in the hinterland, saying corporate governance should not only be elitist but should be inclusive. He argued that corporate governance must be taken to their level.