Dokpesi: Management Team Restructure Will Strengthen Corporate Governance, Attract Investments

James Emejo in Abuja

Chairman, DAAR Communications Plc, Mr. Raymond Dokpesi Jr, has reassured the investing public, stakeholders and staff that the recent retirement of top executive management staff would not cause any setback for the organisation but rather make it attractive to investors, financiers among others.

The company recently announced the retirement of key members of its executive management team, including Dr. Oluwatosin Dokpesi and Mr. Tony Akiotu, effective October 31, 2024, as part of a broader move to comply with the company’s Internal Control Policies and Procedures Manual, which mandates the retirement of executives who have served over 10 years in their roles.

The development had also sparked some controversies, prompting the company to issue formal clarification.

However, in an exclusive chat with THISDAY in Abuja, over the weekend, the chairman explained that the decision was taken in compliance with its existing rules after becoming a public limited company.

Also, he said measures have been put in place to overcome longstanding issues with the company as well as return it to the path of profitability.

He emphasised that the retirement of executive members was particularly a difficult decision that had to be taken for the growth of the entire organisation, adding, “I don’t see any cause for alarm internally as far as any kind of friction and divisions are concerned.”

Dokpesi said, “I can imagine that not everybody will be particularly excited about this news or this development, but this is just the unfortunate practical realities that we have to deal with and contend with.

“But let me assure our investing public, our stakeholders, our regulators, and all well-wishers of Daar Communications Plc family, and our brands, that we are in absolute and total control of the situation.

“We have appraised of all the fears and all the concerns, and we will be certainly taking the most responsible decisions in the overall interest of all of us towards getting the very best for our value.”

He further assured that the exits of the most senior echelon of staff will give opportunity for talented professionals who have been stagnant in one position for years to also have opportunities for promotion and to give them additional responsibilities.

Dokpesi told THISDAY that the retirement exercise was in no way a witch-hunt of affected directors but an adherence to unanimously adopted internal control principles.

Providing further insights into the development, he said, “We have an internal handbook or manual that we operate and our internal manual dictates that it is two terms of five years and that has been the policy of the organisation from inception. So, it’s not something that will now change to satisfy specific individuals or specific contexts. We just have to abide and comply with what we have.”

He added, “This is a particularly strategic course at this point to be able to engage with and identify critical partners and stakeholders, financial investors, financial lenders, financial institutions with which we can work with and cooperate and cooperate with. 

“And one of the issues which is always bordered on compliance with the extant laws and regulation has been the issue of family membership on the board.

“But much more importantly than that has been the fact that we have an internal control process and procedures manual which defines how we as an organization operate and how we structure our board and our corporate governance.”

According to him, “It is within our rules that members of executive management should spend a maximum tenure of two terms of five years, that’s ten years in total. And we have for one reason or the other not effected or put implementation to that. A number of the persons who are in the highest echelons of our management today are veterans of the industry, quintessential professionals who very much started this business with my dad all the way back in Alagbado when we were a little radio station in Lagos back in 1993-1994.

“They have grown within the system and within the organisation and many of them have held leadership positions, executive management positions in excess of 15, 17 years, some in excess of 20 years.

“Now, what does that mean for us as a Plc? At that time Daar Communications was a limited liability company so there were no issues about the tenure of executive management.”

Continuing, he said, “It was a decision strictly of the board and the shareholders of the company to determine if they were satisfied with management’s performance to keep them in position or not.

“Subsequently, having listed on the stock exchange, we need to essentially start counting those years. We listed on the stock exchange around 2008, if I’m not mistaken and for those members of the board whom were of executive management who were already in the executive management before that time, their tenures would narrowly also have lapsed around 2018.

“A number of others joined the executive management subsequent to our listing. The group managing director comes to mind as well as maybe two or three other members of management, but in any case, all those tenures have lapsed between 2018 and sometime this year in 2024 and so we decided that we need to actually take the bull by the horn and take the difficult decision.”