Moghalu decries lack of corporate governance in Nigeria’s public corporations

A former presidential candidate on the platform of the Young Peoples Party, YPP, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has decried what he termed the dearth of corporate governance in Nigeria’s public corporations.

Moghalu made this statement during the Annual Directors’ Dinner and Awards organised by the Chartered Institute of Directors Nigeria, CiOD, saying that most public corporations have become bottomless pits for the gratification of partisan political associates.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, recalled that the bank was run like a private company with Lamido Sanusi Lamido as the Governor.

According to him, no public corporation would deliver without institutionalising the principle of corporate governance in its corporation.

“When I was at the Central Bank, we ran the Central Bank like it was a private company. We ran it with very high standards of corporate governance. And that’s one of the reasons we were so successful in our five-year tenure from 2009 to 2014.

“It was not an accident. It was not an accident. How many public sector corporations can we go to and see the principles of corporate governance being followed?

“No. But most public sector corporations in Nigeria have become bottomless pits for the gratification of partisan political associates. It doesn’t matter the party,” he said.

The ex-presidential aspirant explained that the private sector has become more mature over the past 10 years in terms of entrenching corporate governance but the same cannot be said of the public corporations.

He stated that Nigeria must work on improving good governance in the public sector, saying without it the private sector cannot realise its full potential.

According to him, the private sector is bleeding today because of the misgovernance in the public sector.