By Henry Uche
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) has called on federal government to look at the future of the Nigerian child and end the ASUU’s strike.
The President & Chairman of Governing Council, Taiwo Owokalade, who spoke at the 2022 Annual General Meeting and quarterly media briefing of the Institute yesterday in Lagos, said that the institute is still not happy that ASUU and the federal government issues has not been resolved.
He said, “These are young people sitting at home and not knowing what to do. Remember, the saying, “An idle man is a devils workshop”. When these children are at home doing nothing, the nation is breeding a workforce that if we are not careful we will not be able to handle and it will not be good for our system because they are not properly educated.
“We are calling on The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Federal Government to be empathic and call off the strike. Whatever it takes for the both parties they should see it as a sacrifice and end the strike for the sake of our children and the future of the nation,”
ICSAN boss also expressed sadness over the present stage of insecurity in the state. According to him, the era of pretending as if nothing is happening is gone, noting that the security issue is affecting the economy and it needs to be addressed.
Reflecting on the Owo massacre, he said: “This is the first time it’s happening in the South West and it is getting messer. We can no longer sleep with our two eyes closed. We need to address it because it’s affecting the economy,”
On the way forward on insecurity, he moved for a state police, saying, “Following the insecurity in the state, people have come up with several proposals and one of it is to find a way to decentralise the police force.
“Let there be state police. It does not make sense saying that you don’t want to encourage state police, but you are asking the state government to use the resources they have to recruit for the Nigerian Police. Is it not better to allow state police so they can use their resources to equip themselves?”
Owokalade, however appealed to the federal government to come up with templates that will rate states to have their own police and be empowered to carry ammunitions. “We should be bold enough to address this issue. We need to confront our fears and allow state police take control because it will affect everyone if it is not tackled head-on” he said.
He grieved over the high cost of doing business in Nigeria. According to him, “We started this year (2022);with N300 as diesel price, but today, it’s 700 or more and we cannot even find it to buy and this is not a good story for the nation.
“Companies are closing shops. Those that are not closing are falling in qualities of what they used to produce because the cost of production is very high and you can not shift the entire cost on the consumers.
“Government have to look for l better ways of managing the system. The number of those in employment is very low because businesses are folding up and the ones they employed are at home doubled with the ASSU’s strike,” he bemoaned.
On 2023 general elections, he said, “As we are going into another transition of election, as an institution, we appeal to Nigerians not to pick a leader based on tribal issues. Maladministration and mismanagement of resources does not know tribe, religion nor poverty. If we don’t allow good people to manage our system and we continue to argue about tribe, the challenging we are talking about will still be on our throat.
“What we should look out is the competency and the capacity, not tribe, or religion. As an institute, we need to put in place structures for good governance, build strong institute and not leaders,”
He also announced that the Institute would soon change its name from Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) to Chartered Governance Institute (CGI). He said the change of name allows the institute align with the new directives of governance.
“We are a knowledge- based institute. We agreed to change the name and shift to become Chartered Governance Institute because the narratives all over the world are about governance and we said instead of having a name that does not align with the new directives the best was to change our name to align with the new directives hence the reason our members voted for a change of institute,” he said.
With another Phase of his leadership, he said the institute is looking at growing it’s numbers, making the institute to be seen as foremost governance. “We are happy to say that so many people are getting in touch with us and making enquires with us. We want to partner with some other institutes for masters in good governance.
“As a foremost governance institute, we want to make sure we preach good governance of federalism to make sure that the government does what is right because when things are done right way and manner, we will be able to reap the good democracy that we preach,” he said.
Caption: L-R: Barr Chike Ekwueme, Legal Adviser; Mrs Funmi Ekundayo, Vice President; Mr Taiwo Owokalade, President & Chairman of Governing Council; Mrs Taiwo Ganiyat Olusesi, Registrar CEO and Mr. Francis Olawale FCIS, Honorary Treasurer at the 2022 Annual General Meeting and quarterly media briefing of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) recently in Lagos.