Moghalu: Africa’s Biggest Problem is Lack of Good Governance, Not Poverty

Dike Onwuamaeze

The President of African School of Governance (ASG), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, has stated that the biggest problem in Africa, including Nigeria, is the absence of good and competent governance and not poverty and lack of foreign investments.

The African School of Governance, is a new international Pan-African university located in Kigali, Rwanda.

Moghalu made this declaration in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday during the Chartered Institute of Directors, Nigeria’s (CIoD), 2024 Annual Directors’ Dinner and Awards Night with the theme, ‘Celebrating Resilience, Excellence and Leadership’, where he was honoured  with the institute’s Good Governance Award.

The award was bestowed on him by the President and Chairman of the Governing Council of CIoD, Mr. Tijjani M. Borodo.

Other organisations and individuals who were also conferred with various awards such as Corporate governance Award, Entrepreneurial Award and Director of the Year Award, were the Seplat Energy; the Chief Executive Officer of Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka and the Chairman of Ecobank Plc, Ms. Bola Adesola respectively while the Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, was conferred with the Anofi Guobadia Award for Leadership and Excellence.

Moghalu, who doubled as chairman of the event, described the CIOD as one of Nigeria’s most respected professional associations that has had no rancor, no stories and no scandals.

He said: “You just do the business professionally. In this country today, that is not something we can take for granted, so I’m really very honoured to be here with you tonight.

“I just want to say a few things about why we are here.

“The CIOD is about governance. Governance is a very fundamental principle of human existence.

“The difference between a civilised society and an uncivilised society is that the civilised society has governance.

“It is governed. It has structures that organise it and create productivity and progress.

“Uncivilised society is the law of the jungle. There is no order. There is no governance. Good might is what reigns, and so this matter of governance is so fundamental to our existence.”

Moghalu recalled that he was appointed a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2009 and was saddled with the responsibility of heading the Financial System Stability Directorate that was tasked with reforming the financial system to bring new standards of corporate governance and new standards of risk management.

He said: “I’m pleased to see that in the years since then, many aspects of the private sector have grown in their maturity when it comes to corporate governance, and a large part of it is because of contributions from the CIoD, which is training a lot of corporate directors and a lot of its members.
“But there’s a problem. You can have corporate governance all you want in the private sector, but if you don’t have good governance in the public sector, there’s a problem. There is a gap.

“Gap needs to be plugged, and we should think seriously about what to do, about what I’m saying and what I’m about to say.”

He noted that Africans tend to think that their problem is poverty and need for foreign investors and debt forgiveness but pointed out that “the biggest problem the African continent faces, and that also includes our dear country, Nigeria, is the absence of good and competent governance.

“That country or a continent that was well governed the way it should be, with purpose-driven leadership that is thinking about improving lives of the citizens and the people, about taking people from poverty into the middle class, about taking people from being mid-range to being globally.
“We would not be in the situation in which we are today. The private sector in Nigeria is bleeding, bleeding massively, and if the private sector is bleeding, you can imagine the condition of Nigerians who are not corporate citizens, just ordinary.

“We need to emphasise the importance of governance in the public sector, because without good governance and competent governance in the private sector, the private sector will not be able to create wealth in the manner in which it should.

“It will not be able to create prosperity. It will not be able to create the wealth of nations, rather than the wealth of individuals.”

Borodo explained that the Annual Directors’ Dinner is an occasion for celebrating achievers and recognising invaluable contributions of individuals and organisations that have modeled ethical leadership and high standard of corporate governance practices.

He said: “But this year’s edition of ADD is spectacularly unique in that in addition to the annual awards for excellence in various categories, there would also be appreciation awards for many leaders in CIoD Nigeria who have served the Institute meritoriously over the years, especially seven past presidents of the institute and 16 executive committee chairmen who would be stepping down as members of the governing council and executive committee respectively because of the reconstitution of the council and dissolution of the executive committee in compliance with the new Charter Act of the Institute.”