REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS AT THE BAAC BREAKFAST MEETING OF DECEMBER 3RD, 2008

The meeting started at 7.30am, despite fears that the invitees might come in late due to the take-off time or the early morning rain, it still turned out that we had quite a number of guests at 7.30am, so the event started right on time.

The speakers were each given ten minutes to speak about their different topics and they kept to time. Just before taking questions and comments from the house, Dr. Kolade had his own comment:

He says the essence of the meeting is not to give a prescription on how the issue of corruption can be solved, but that the meeting was called, because there was the need to address the way on moving forward on the establishment of the Ombudsman team. He then called on everyone not to see themselves as victims but as participants in moving the nation forward. He called on anyone who had a first-hand experience of an ethical dilemma and how it was solved to narrate their experiences to the audience.

Mrs. Winifred Awosika of Chrisland School shared her personal experience with the participants on how she has been able to address the issue of corruption in her school. She narrated how she sacked a principal and 12 teachers at the same period and though they thought it was going to cause her some challenges, but she came out the better for it. She concluded by saying that the issue of integrity is something that should start with the individual and this should mellow down to all areas of our lifes, the business inclusive.

Mr. Linus Okeke ( Director, KPMG) painted a scenario of what occurs in his office. He says the issue of integrity is not limited to the management staff and gave the example of a lower cadre staff in his office that was elected twice into the committee of Ethics. He concluded by stating that we should not be daunted by the challenges in setting up the Ombudsman team.

Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje ( RTC) says the rationale for setting it up is quite strong, but advised on being cautious on the members of the team. He says that research has shown that impressions don’t match reality and that track-records as well as questions should be asked on the criteria for nominating members into the team. He says the names of the nominees should be submitted to the house for re-consideration.

Mr. Adesiyan ( President, Shareholders Association of Nigeria) He says that the setting up of the team would be a good step in the right direction, as shareholders would take their grievances to the committee who would in turn take it to the appropriate authorities. He complained that there was a lot of inconsistency in government policies and that the activities of auditors should be closely addressed.

Martin Woolnough ( Nestle Nigeria Ltd.). He wanted to know if the consumers were ready to pay for issue of corruption being addressed as the cost for fighting corruption would be passed to the end-users at the end of the day. He believes that the approach of fighting corruption should be bottom- up, starting from the educational sector. He believes that a certain level of participation is needed from the government in order to make the rationale behind the Ombudsman team work out.

Andrew Ogba ( NACCIMA). He says political will is needed to fight corruption and that most people were paying lip-service to the fight and not really living the ideals of Integrity. He is of the opinion that the success of the team can only be possible if there was public/private partnership.

Dr.Kolade gave the closing remarks by saying that he was encouraged by the spirit of commitment of the participant and the fact that they were willing to support and work together to ensure that the setting up of the team is a success. He also says we should be positive about the idea and not be daunted about the challenges. He mentioned that the meeting was the first in the series of other meetings that would ensue and that talks were on-going to putting finishing touches to the whole idea. The meeting ended at 10am.

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