The Chairman, IoD Centre for Corporate Governance, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, mni, FIoD recently led Members of the Board of Governors and Management to a courtesy visit to the Senior Management of Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) at its Head Office in the FCT Abuja. The DBN team on ground to receive the IoDCCG’s team was led by the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Tony Okpanachi.
The MD/CEO of DBN who warmly welcomed the IoDCCG team shared the historical background of DBN which commenced operation in 2017 as a wholesale Development Finance Institution with the mandate to provide credit facility to MSMEs through Participating Intermediary Banks in Nigeria. He said that part of the Bank’s mandate includes Credit Guarantee and Technical Assistance to MSMEs. The MD informed the visiting IoDCCG’s team that the Bank has onboarded about 47 Financial Institutions as its Participating Intermediary Banks and that with an ownership structure comprising of diverse institutions which includes Federal Government of Nigeria and certain multilateral funding institutions, DBN is capitalised to the tune of half a trillion naira. He said that the Bank has advanced more than N439billion credit facility to over 180 businesses within four years of its existence with women and youth owned businesses been the highest beneficiaries. The MD/CEO alluded the success within this short period to strict application of sound Corporate Governance Principles and Practices and a robust Risk Assessment mechanism put in place in its operations.
The IoDCCG Chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Idris, mni, FIoD in his response informed the MD/CEO that IoDCCG been an organisation limited by guarantee is the citadel of Corporate Governance in Nigeria and that the Centre has over the period watched DBN with keen interest and note its achievements. He indicated that the application of good Corporate Governance was the main attraction to IoDCCG and the reason the Centre is approaching the Bank for partnership given the shared vision. The move he said will further strengthen the Bank and enhance its capacity to deliver more on its mandate.
The Chairman, informed the MD/CEO that IoDCCG offer Corporate Governance trainings, Board Evaluation and Induction as well as Corporate Governance Framework Review and Audit to businesses and institutions in the public and private sector organisations. He thus, enjoin the Bank to leverage on the Centre’s services to continue to stay on top of its mandate. He praised the leadership of the Bank at both the Board and Management levels as one of the best in the industry, which was why the Bank achieved an unprecedented success within four years of operation.
The Chairman of IoDCCG went on to make specific request to the Management of DBN, which are;
Ø Partnership with the Bank for the upcoming maiden edition of National Corporate Governance Summit
Ø Training and certification of MSMEs on Corporate Governance
Ø Institutional Corporate Membership registration of DBN with the Centre
Ø Training and Corporate Governance services to DBN by IoDCCG
Ø Paper Presentation by the MD/CEO at the maiden National Corporate Governance Summit
Ø Partnership with DBN on production of Corporate Governance Compendium
The Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Tony Okpanachi in his response to IoDCCG’s requests, believe the submissions are within the mandate of the Bank to intervene and called on various Departmental Heads present at the meeting to review the requests with a view to getting the Bank involve in various areas presented that will advance the operational capacity and success of the institution as an MSMEs funding interventionist Bank.
The visit was wrapped off with presentation of journals produced by IoDCCG to the Management of DBN.