GT Bank has signed on to the Convention on Business Integrity. She became the 17th member organization to join The Convention on Business Integrity. They held their Signing ceremony on March 5th, 2007. It had in attendance their Executive Director, Mr. Tayo Adenirokun, The attorney General of Lagos State, Professor Yemi Osibajo ( Board member of Integrity), GT Bank Directors and other stakeholders. GT Bank is the first Nigerian Bank to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The bank joined the CBi family on May 24th, 2007 in the Board Room of their Head Office in Lagos. With their signing on to the convention, they have become the 18th member of the convention. The signing ceremony had in attendance the Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Simon Millet, Mr. Soji Apampa who represented the Board of Integrity, top officials of the Bank, Staff of CBi as well as the Media.
Prima Garnet Ogilivy and its subsidiaries, 141 Worldwide, Media Share, Cutler Ogilvy and Lampost experientials publicly signed on to the Convention on Business Integrity on July 19th, 2007. Present were Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi the Managing Director, members of their Board, Directors of CBi, represented by Mr. Soji Apampa and Prof. Gabriel Olusanya. Their joining CBi is significant for the major purpose that they are noted in the advertising industry for conducting their business ethically and they had to lose some major accounts because they “refused to play ball”. We are glad that they took this bold step and hope that others in the industry would follow suit.
Different organizations are at different stages of signing to the convention; Sokoa Chair Center has submitted its membership documentation. We await positive feedback from BusinessDay Newspaper, First Bank Nigeria, The Chair Centre and Furniture Manufacturing Mart. Details of their Signing Ceremonies will be communicated soon.
Please Click on http://www.theconvention.org/photopic.htm to view pictures taken at various events.
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To further expand the scope of work done on the Business Without Borders Toolkit, CBi organized another workshop on the BWB Toolkit on May 24th, 2007.The workshop took place in the premises of The Canadian Deputy High Commission and we had participants from different professional groups as well as some participants coming from outside the State to attend the workshop.
As a follow-up to the “Doing Business Without Borders” Toolkit Workshop held last year and early this year, CBi organized two focus group discussions in the two states were the workshop held. The objective of the discussion is to create a forum, where the participants can come together to share experiences on how they have been able to implement the lessons at the workshop. The discussion held in Lagos on June 8th, 2007 and in Abuja on June 12th, 2007.
As follow-up to the “Doing Business Without Borders” Toolkit Workshop held last year and early this year, CBi organized a monitoring and evaluation exercise to get feedback from the participants on how the toolkit/ workshop has impacted on their businesses. The visits were done in Lagos and Abuja- the two places were the training took place. The visits were quite encouraging as the participants we met with gave testimonies on how the toolkit has impacted on their businesses.
To get a report on the Monitoring and Evaluation Exercise, Please click on http://www.theconvention.org/testimonials.htm
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CBi held series of other workshops for SMEs under the BWB project. The workshops were done in collaboration with The chambers of commerce in Abuja and Kaduna. The workshop for Lagos was done in collaboration with The Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Development service of the Lagos Business School, Leap Africa and some other membership based organizations.
Kaduna Workshop- The workshop held on July 6th, 2007 at the Hamdala Hotel in Kaduna, the turn-out was impressive and the participants were enthused that an organization could provide such comprehensive training at no fee charged to the participants.
Abuja Workshop- The workshop held in the training school of The Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) in Abuja and it was done in collaboration with The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and EFCC. It held on July 17th, 2007.
Lagos Workshop- This held on July 23rd, 2007 at the Function Room of the Muson Centre. The participants were drawn from a number of SMEs representing different sectors of the economy. The turn-out was quite impressive.
Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, Managing Director of Prima Garnet Ogilvy, now AAAN President
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Prima Garnet Ogilvy Group, Mr Lolu Akinwunmi whose company is the most recent signatory of CBi has been elected the new president of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). He was elected during the 34th Annual General Meeting and Congress (AGM) of the association that held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on August 5th, 207. AAAN is the regulatory body for advertisement practitioners in the Country. As we congratulate him on his success, we have no doubt that he will go and do CBi proud as he brings to bear the values that he has been noted for. Once again, congratulations!
MTN NIGERIA LTD SIGNS ON TO THE CONVENTION
One of the foremost players in the Nigeria Telecommunications sector in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria. is the newest entrant into the membership list of The Convention on Business Integrity (CBI). The company signed on to the convention at a public event on November 2nd, 2006. The media event was witnessed by eminent Nigerians, made up of the Board of MTN. The Ceremony was attended by the Chairman of MTNN, Dr Pascal Dozie, the Managing Director, Mr Ahmad Faroukh, Board Members of the MTN Foundation, including, Mrs Aisha Sadauki, Mr Victor Odili and the Corporate Service Executive Mrs Amina Oyagbola, Mr Babatunde Osho GM Others present at the event were, Professor Yemi Osinbajo- Attorney General of Lagos State who chaired the occasion, Mr. Olusoji Apampa- MD SAP West and Central Africa Professor Gabriel Olusanya, Mrs Ndidi Okonkwo-Nwuneli of Leap Africa, members of the Diplomatic Corp, and other dignitaries were present to witness the epoch- making event.
In the meantime, we await suitable dates from GT Bank, Prima Garnet and others who have signified interest to sign on to the convention.
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CBi MAKES PRESENTATION AT THE FIRST CAMEROON INVESTMENT FORUM
The organization was invited under the auspices of the Business Action against Corruption initiative to make a presentation at the Cameroon Investment forum which held at the Hilton Yaounde on the 7th November 2006. The audience was made up of players from Cameroun’s private and public sectors, representatives from the development organizations and potential investors.
CORE-GROUP MEETING FOR CBi SIGNATORIES
The next Core-Group meeting for CBi signatories will come up on November, 30th, 2006. This meeting will provide an opportunity to review the organizations performance for year 2006 and discuss strategies for 2007.
CBi WORKSHOP ON TOOLKIT ASSESMENT AT MUSON CENTER
Mr. David Grayson, from the firm of Irwin and Grayson based in the United Kingdom was in Nigeria to hold workshops to review the tool kit his firm was engaged to produce. The objective of the tool kit was to provide a resource for building capacities of selected businesses with a focus to ensuring transparency and accountability. The workshops held on the 30th and 31st October 2006 at the Muson Center in Onikan. The workshop was an eye-opener as participants were able to share experiences as well as share their ideas about the dilemmas they face in business, the challenges they face in their resolve to run their enterprises ethically and also shared ideas on how businesses could run ethically and the role of the toolkit in ensuring that this is carried out successfully.
BUSINESS ACTION AGAINST CORRUPTION MANAGEMENT COUNCIL INAUGURATED
At a meeting convened by the Common Wealth Business Council on 20th October 2006 in Johannesburg South Africa, CBI was appointed to the Management Council of the Business Action against Corruption on the Continent. This Council is charged with drawing up strategies for the operations and funding of the project.
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BUSINESS ACTION AGAINST CORRUPTION ROADSHOW
As part of the BAAC initiative on the next phase, Professor Steve Godfrey of the Common Wealth Business Council led a team from the Convention on Business Integrity, CBI to meetings with key officials of Coca- Cola Nigeria Limited, Trade and Investment Unit of British Deputy High Commission and Shell Exploration & Production Africa Limited. The companies visited showed a positive interest to collaborate with the initiative and CBI in different ways.
CBi TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE SESSIONS WITH STAKEHOLDERS
The Convention on Business Integrity with the support of the Common Wealth Business Council under the auspices of Business Action Against Corruption (BAAC) is planning to hold dialogue sessions with some selected stakeholders. This is in keeping with the CBI strategy to provide a platform on which Businesses and Public Sector can interface on matters of anti-corruption. The first of these sessions is between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and its stakeholders. This is scheduled to hold on the 8th of December 2006. Other details with regards to this will be made available in due course.
CBi TO FACILITATE FIRST WOMEN’S FORUM TO HOLD IN LAGOS
The organization under the auspices of The Common Wealth Business Council is holding the first Women’s Forum on Corruption. It is expected that as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, business women, policy makers and executives women have a great challenge to ensure that Corruption that is eradicated in Nigeria. Women from all works of life will be present at this event, tentatively scheduled for 29th of November 2006.
CBI FACILITATES ETHICS TRAINING FOR FEDERAL INLAND REVENUE SERVICE
The Convention on Business Integrity initiated the need for an Ethics Training Program with the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS) SARS has indicated its willingness and is working with FIRS to carry out the training that will assist to make the organization more transparent and accountable.
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UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT- 4TH INTERNATIONAL LEARNING FORUM MEETING
Participants from all over the world will meet in Accra, Ghana to learn about challenges of implementing the Global Compact principles and partnerships for development. The meeting targets managers and other experts from business, civil society and labour that are working on corporate citizenship, sustainability and partnership issues. Ms.Ime Enang will be representing Mr. Apampa as moderator at the Learning Forum that would take place in Ghana between 22nd-24th, November, 2006.
LAUNCH OF FIX NIGERIA PROJECT
The Fix Nigeria Project which is a project of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was launched on October 16th, 2006. CBi and other key stakeholders were invited to the event.
LAUNCH OF THE INTEGRITY RATING SYSTEM
CBi has been commissioned by The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to work on the CBi Rating system that would be used to rate financial institutions in Nigeria. The launch of the rating system has been fixed tentatively for December 7th, 2006.
