Has anyone noticed that the current crop of Chief Executive Officers in most blue chip multinational corporations in Nigeria are mostly expatriates? If they are not Europeans, North Americans, or Asians, they are at best Africans, from Ghana, Kenya, or so.
The era of Michael Omolayole, Christopher Abebe, Felix Ohiwerei, Christopher Kolade, respectively of Lever Brothers, now Unilever, United Africa Company, Nigerian Breweries, and Cadbury, seems to have gone away, though you have the 37-year-old Babalola Aiyesimoju token at UAC.
This first crop of Nigerians who took over top corporate positions from the expatriates, who vacated in the wake of the 1972 Indigenisation Decree and its local content requirements, performed creditably well, and many of them competently took on senior government positions later on.
Ernest Shonekan of the UAC became Chairman of military dictator Ibrahim Babangida’s Transition Council, as a sort of Prime Minister, before becoming Interim President of Nigeria. Kola Jamodu left PZ to become President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Minister of Industry. Gamaliel Onosode moved from NAL Merchant Bank to become Director of Budget for President Shehu Shagari’s government.
Some others became sounding boards to governments, and consultants to regional and multilateral organisations. They were able to achieve this because they had been exposed to high calibre trainers and mentors, who had schooled them in the rudiments and protocols of international corporate best practices.
If Atedo Peterside, founding CEO of IBTC, the bank that evolved into StanbicIBTC, could be Chairman of Governance Committee of Nigerian Breweries, blue chip of blue chip companies, for more than a decade, there is enough confirmation that Nigeria has the talents that can take up the world.
Remember that Heineken of The Netherlands, brewers of a premium specialty beer, is the technical partner of Nigeria Breweries. And, by the way, there is a certain bar within America’s Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, that can serve you as many bottles of Nigerian Breweries’ flagship brand as you like.
Maybe, you also remember Adebayo Ogunlesi, who acquired majority shares of, and runs, London’s Gatwick Airport, and then some, in addition to making the list of American President Donald Trump’s team of Economic Advisers. It takes more than potential to make that grade, don’t you think?
Take a good look at the Nigerian banking industry where nearly all the CEOS are Nigerians, and no one doubts their competencies. If you don’t mind the sanitising verdict of former Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor Lamido Sanusi on some banking past masters, you’ll agree that Nigerian bankers are as good as any in this era of globalisation.
The same applies to the insurance, stock brokerage, advertising, media, and hospitality businesses that are run with pretty much the same competencies as their counterparts in other parts of the world.
It suddenly looks as if Nigerians no longer have the savvy to occupy such high profile positions in their own country. Nigerians are now relegated to bystanders in the running of the most strategic aspects of Corporate Nigeria.
Apologists of those who now exclude Nigerians from the corner offices of the executive suites of the multinationals, point to ethical issues and baggage linked to some Nigerians who were practically walked out of the top corporate positions.
Well, if those individuals found, or thought, culpable of ethical offences cannot be returned to their offices, that should not preclude others who are talented and promising. It is wrong to vicariously consign every talented Nigerian into the abyss of guilt for offences presumably committed by others. It is unfair.
Hey, ethical and governance issues of senior executives of American corporations, like Enron, did not prevent other Americans from being appointed the CEOs of those companies, and of others. It’s funny that globalisation that brought expatriates to Corporate Nigeria precludes Nigerian talents from competing fairly with their colleagues, here and elsewhere.
A Nigerian nonagerian, who was a top corporate player in his heyday, thinks it preposterous that the multinationals are unable to find the right talents to fit those positions in Nigeria. He wonders how Nigerian corporate players suddenly became corporate pariahs in their own country.
He points out that the expatriate quota rule grants an expatriate an initial period of three years, after which his employment can be renewed for more than one subsequent terms of two years each, as long as does not exceed 10 years.
In addition, a qualified Nigerian must have been prepared, as an understudy, to learn the relevant skills, in order to take over the responsibilities of the job after the expatriate must have left for his country.
It appears that there is a conspiracy between the Nigerian Immigration Service and the multinationals to defeat the purpose of this extremely important and strategic policy to develop a cadre of top quality management personnel that is expected to run Corporate Nigeria, bay the huge and complex economy of modern Nigeria.
In Nigeria’s petroleum sector, local content “is the quantum of value added, or created, in the Nigerian economy through the utilisation of Nigerian human and material resources, for the provision of goods and services (for use within the Nigerian economy).” It’s the same for other sectors of the economy.
Local content, if you are interested in knowing, is a follow-up to the Indigenisation Decree of the General Yakubu Gowon military government. It sought to exclude foreigners from, and hand over, certain industries to Nigerians.
The decree was repealed in 1995, and replaced with the Nigeria Export Promotion Act, whose Section 17 provides: “Except as provided in Section 18 of this Act, and subject to this Act, a non-Nigerian may invest, and participate, in any enterprise in Nigeria.”
This precludes the contents of Section 18, which are production of military arms and ammunition, military and paramilitary uniforms, narcotics, and other items as Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council may determine.
Though there is no doubt that the foreign CEOs of the multinationals are competent, it is however, necessary to point out that Nigeria’s local content regulations must not be obeyed in the breach. Like human beings, corporate organisations must obey the law.
Apart from denying talented and qualified Nigerians opportunities to develop, the breach of the letter and spirit of Nigeria’s local content regulation drains a lot of the country’s foreign exchange. As you probably know, expatriates receive foreign counterpart remuneration, in addition to what they are paid locally.
Also, expatriates are generally more expensive than local hires, even if the local hires sometimes have commensurate, or even higher competencies. And, of course, you don’t need to be told that local hires are likely to reinvest most of their remunerations within the Nigerian economy; expatriates necessarily remit theirs back to their home countries.
You could say that, with expatriates running the commanding heights of Corporate Nigeria, it’s a loss to Nigeria, especially if they fail to invest in the development of the local talents. And you can’t really blame them. To rework a phrase from singer Jim Reeves, Nigeria is not their home, they are just passing through.
You get no prize for guessing correctly that the immigration department and the multinationals have some drastic actions to take. But it’s regrettable that some Nigerians are in the conspiracy to defeat a good policy.
Will Internal Affairs Minister Rauf Aregbesola ask for briefing on this vexing, strategic matter?
