The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) have agreed to harmonise conflicting areas in the Code of Corporate Governance for the Telecom Industry and the National Code of Corporate Governance.
This, the two federal government agencies believe will strenghten processes to achieve seamless implementation of the two codes with respect to enforcement, monitoring, stakeholder enlightenment, and unforeseen exigencies that may arise in the course of time.
At a meeting held at the NCC Head Office in Abuja, Sunday Dare, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stateholder Management, stated that the NCC issued the code of corporate governance for the telecom sector because of its significance in ensuring transparency.
Dare, who represented the NCC’s Chief Executive, Prof. Umar Danbatta at the meeting, also noted that the Code of Corporate Governance will ensure accountability and ethical practices that will bolster growth and sustainable development of the telecom industry.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive of FRCN, Daniel Asapokhai, who led the Council’s delegation to NCC, reasoned that collaboration was key to ensuring robust implementation of the codes of governance across sectors.
He affirmed that the national code in the purview of FRCN should serve as a framework for other sectoral guidelines in this regard.
The NCC had in 2014 released a code of corporate governance for the telecom sector after consulting with industry stakeholders. The code which had a moral force, became mandatory in 2016 after further review and engagement with licensees in the telecom ecosystem, and the Code has been operational since then. Accordingly, this collaborative effort between NCC and FRCN became necessary because the latter launched the national code for corporate governance in 2018 to serve as a template for national action in this regard. It is therefore gratifying that the two organisations have agreed to harmonise the divergences that may exist and on other related matters.