Juwah explains NCC’s interest in corporate governance

Dr. Eugene Juwah, EVC, NCC

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Commissions Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah has given some insights why the Commission choose to host a forum on corporate governance.

Juwah who was represented at the occasion in Lagos by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders, Mr. Ifeanyi Itanyi, in his address, last weekend, noted that the essential elements under this consideration include the organisational know-how, managerial talent and compliance with standards, processes and procedures of players in the telecommunications sector.

"We would like to start by first looking at compliance with standards and, in particular, processes and procedures from which every other corporate governance question is simply a derivative," he said.

NCC, he said, is particularly critical of regulatory failure that could arise from negligence of those organizational responsibilities.

This disposition, he said, goes further concerning the sharing of infrastructures and in the efficient use of other scarce resources in its market regulation efforts.

"This now leads us to the concept and practice of corporate governance," he declared.

Juwah cited the Sir Adrian Cadbury, the Ethics Prize Winner’s definition of corporate governance, which places demands on NCC to setup and continuously monitor the ethical framework within which those who run telecommunications companies in Nigeria should operate.

"Responsibility for decisions, therefore, will run through both ends of the spectrum, that is, the board and management," he said, stressing that operating companies have to take account of its responsibilities to industry in decision making, but the industry, through the regulator, has to accept its responsibilities for setting the standards against which those decisions are made.

Therefore, he revealed the reason behind the forum, saying it’s expected to shape the behavioural relationships through which telecommunications companies are directed and controlled.

Remmy Nweke

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