Ernst & Young: How Our Services Build Trust in Nigeria’s Economy

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Ernst & Young West Africa, yesterday reiterated the relevance of its auditing and consulting services to the Nigerian economy, stressing that its activities were helping to restore trust and confidence in business and government organisations.

Advisory Sector Leader, Government and Infrastructure, Joe Cosma, who spoke in Abuja when the company hosted some of its clients and stakeholders to a meeting in its new office opposite the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, noted that the operating environment in African countries basically remain the same.

 On his assessment of the level of public and private partnership in the country, he noted that it had continued to mature, but admitted that the process had been slow.

“ It is maturing, it’s growing. It’s not where it should be, but it needs to continue to grow. We are all in the starting phases, or somewhere in the middle phases, but more needs to be done on both sides, not just from government, but from the private sector as well,” he said.

Cosma opined that African businesses needed to do more in terms of international exposure, explaining however that there has been a drastic change in the outlook of many African businesses and economies.

“ I would say we need to see more African businesses coming out of Africa going international. That to me is the beginning of growth and it is the beginning of maturing of our economies, rather than companies coming inside, but we still have quite a long way to go.

“ There’s been a drastic change in the economies of Africa. I think they’re moving in the right direction. Sometimes a bit slowly, but they’re all moving. They’re all maturing, and they’re starting to do the right things,” he added.

“ We do audit and audit will provide that level of confidence to our clients, to their shareholders, to the other stakeholders. So, auditing will always be there, because it’s needed by all those stakeholders. It’s simple, straightforward,” he stressed.

On his part, the Chief Operating Officer, West Africa, Ernst & Young, Busiayo Layade, noted that challenges faced by the companies operating on the continent are similar, explaining that issues that affect its clientele also indirectly affect the company.

“We work within Nigeria. So the same challenges many other companies face in terms of fuel scarcity, the foreign exchange rate,  costs going up, all those things affect our clients and as they affect our clients, they affect us.

“But what we do to surmount it is that professionalism is at our core, and we look beyond giving excuses. So we ensure that we let the client know that there’s a challenge you’re facing and we have spotted the challenge for you.

“As business advisors, we advise on how we are going to help you to ensure that you  surmount those challenges. So for us,  we analyse a situation and we provide those solutions,” he stated.

According to Layade, the need to move from Labour House in Abuja to the new office, was borne out of recent expansion and business growth.

 “Our operations have grown bigger. Our clients have grown much more, our staff contingent has increased, and we needed a place that is also a welcoming hub for our clients,” he noted.

Also, Senior Partner and Head of Markets of the firm, noted that Nigeria remains a very important market for Ernst & Young in West Africa.

“Our clients know that we are here to support them and we do a lot of sessions with them in the office like strategy sessions and trainings, so that we can make our clients grow and grow with them. That’s our motto: make the clients grow and grow with them,” he posited.

According to him, the company has the advantage of  getting resources from a wide pool of global knowledge base because of its integrated across geographies, stressing that it’s knowledge transfer and people transfer in the sector remain top-notch.