Sustainable Development: Corporate Bodies Urged to Embrace Diversity, Inclusion 

Omolabake Fasogbon

Experts have urged corporate entities to prioritise competence on their path to achieving diversity and inclusion necessary for sustainable development. 

These experts also stressed sustainable development as a key driving principle of organisations which is in the interest of self, society and the environment at large.

At the investiture ceremony of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) first female President/Chairman of Council, Funmi Ekundayo, it was also agreed that women should be given more representation in corporate board beyond the present 24 percent, which is considered too weak for diversity. 

In her keynote address on the programme theme: ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Governance as Tools for Sustainable Development’, President of Lotus Bank, Kafilat Araoye, expressed worries that many firms have compromised competence all in the name of diversity, adding that equal opportunities should be strictly on merit and not a quota system.

She said: ” Besides being profitable to the society and environment at large, the entity that embraces inclusion and diversity have an edge over others in terms of profitability, innovation, growth and increased employee engagement.

“Ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to outperform their respective national industry medians.”

Urging organisations to harness corporate governance to realise sustainability, Araoye said this would keep organisations on track and ensure that they take decisions that will be beneficial to all stakeholders.

The Chairman of the occasion and Special Adviser to the President on Monetary Policy, Olawale Edun, also insisted on balanced gender representation in key roles, asserting that codes of corporate governance of many countries, including Nigeria, advocate an appropriate balance of skills and diversity on the board.

He described ICSAN as a respected voice in Nigeria’s corporate governance and beyond, affirming that the choice of Ekundayo was apt in leading the institute to foster economic growth and sustainable development.

In her acceptance speech, Ekundayo vowed to deepen relationships with the public and private sector players towards enabling corporate governance across the board.