Questions on FRC, Jim Obazee, his minister and FG

By Baba Grumpy

It appears majority of Nigerians are united in agreement that Mr. Jim Obazee, formerly of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), was undeserving of his old job. His sacking by the government appears to have received commendation from both sides of the polarized Nigerian political divide and the ‘commentariat’. 

What worries me is not the apparent unsuitability of Mr. Obazee’s temperament for high office going by media reports and social media gossip but the timing of his sacking.

From reports emerging following his sack, he appears to have been in serious dispute with the minister of trade and investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah (pictured), for a while on the Not for Profit Organizations’ Corporate Governance Policy/Code. If media reports are to be believed, the minister wanted the policy suspended, Mr. Obazee disagreed. Is that Insubordination? Or is it the FRC independent and the Minister had no right to ask him to suspend the policy?

This link – http://www.financialreportingcouncil.gov.ng/about-us/facts-about-frc/rightly identifies the FRC as a creation of the National Assembly of Nigeria with its own statutory powers although it is under the supervision of a Minister / a Ministry. As usual with most matters of law, it is not clear if the Minister or even the Government has the legal right to suspend an already published code by the FRC.

I don’t for one minute believe that the FRC’s Corporate Governance Policy is like the Ten Commandments. Even Moses broke that body of law. However, if it is in the interest of the country and there is an identified need to withdraw a policy, there should be a process that ensures rules are not broken and that only steps that can stand the test of legal challenges are taken to withdraw such a policy.

I might be wrong but I doubt in our usual way of taking prompt action that we stopped to consider the implications of suspending this Corporate Governance Policy. It appears it was all about getting the difficult Obazee out of position. The decision to sack Obazee and suspend the policy raises a lot of questions in my opinion.

Why did the minister not act before the policy led to the resignation of Pastor Adeboye?

Was the minister waiting for approval from the President?

Does he lack the power to exercise his initiative?

If the minister had the statutory power to fire Obazee why did he not do this a while ago?

If he never did, what power did he exercise in firing Obazee?

Based on the Ministry’s statement firing Obazee, it appears his firing potentially might have been caught up in the much-delayed appointment into Boards of Federal Government Agencies. Surely Mr. Minister could have highlighted to the President that there is a looming political risk if there was a further delay in reconstituting the FRC Board. Did he?

Apart from the sacking of Obazee, there are also lots of questions begging for answers on the suspension of the Corporate Governance Policy itself.

Why did the minster and the government wait for this code to become a source of national embarrassment before suspending the code?

Why was the power utilized in suspending the code only invoked after Pastor Adeboye had resigned as RCCG Nigeria GO? Why was it not suspended right from the time the Minister thought there was a problem with the policy?

As an aside, what steps are in place to ensure Nigeria does not recruit more Mr. Obazee into very important roles?

What are we doing to weed out other Mr. Obazees from the system?

And finally when will the government take preemptive steps on similar issues rather than reactive ones?

I gather from a statement released by RCCG (https://www.thecable.ng/i-heard-the-story-that-obazee-vowed-to-oust-adeboye-says-rccg-spokesman) that the issue of the Corporate Governance Policy was discussed in the Church Council. I wonder why the church with such high level representation in government didn’t raise this issue at the highest level of government. If they did, what was done about it?

What steps did the government officials take if indeed the subject was raised?

The way the government has dealt with this matter has created the impression that the Church is untouchable and it is sending the wrong signal to the next government official with a decision to make on any matter affecting the Church. Will he / she be fired if their decision is against the church?

We all need to beware the law of unintended consequences. And government officials need to be subject to increased level of questioning by the 4th Estate of the Realm.

Baba Grumpy works in Financial Services in the United Kingdom. He blogs mostly about football at http://babagrumpy.blogspot.co.uk. His Twitter handle is @BabaGrumpy