May 13, 2010
It’s always refreshing to hear the call to uphold goodness. To be taught that in the midst of so much decadence, integrity should and can prevail at all times, not just sometimes. To be encouraged to speak and stand for morals, values and ethics seeing that the realization of the much desired “new” Nigeria will chiefly depend on these footings. All of these and more I took away from my studies at the Lagos Business School (LBS) but I ask, without consistency and veracity, isn’t these a mirage?
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the alumni association of the school asking for choices between a number of nominees for the Distinquished Alunmi award and President’s award. The email stated that the Distinquished Alunmi award is for “alumus/alumna in recognition of excellent service to the society” and listed 5 nominees. I was smacked by the first nominee - an ex-chairman of Cadbury who was ousted along with the entire board due to financial malpractices. And not only was he nominated for the award, the email referred to him as the “Chairman of Cadbury”. Unable to appreciate the falseness, I replied the email. First pointing out the error in title, but more importantly, questioning his nomination when mirrored against the mission statement and teachings of the school.
In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concluded its investigation into the Cadbury scam, affirming that the management, in concert with its board of directors, deliberately filed financial statements that contained untrue and misleading information from 2002 – 2006. N13.255 billion was the accumulated overstatement for the period. SEC also discovered undocumented and undisclosed offshore account from which the executive directors were paid offshore remuneration – none of this was ever recorded in the company’s financial report. SEC consequently suspended the affected officials (including the Chairman of the board) from operating in the capital market and referred them to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and prosecution. SEC also sanctioned Cadbury’s eternal auditor – Akintola Williams Delloite – and Registrar – Union Registrars Ltd. The findings were published and have remained public knowledge. I and other shareholders watched in dismay as the value of our shareholdings swindled to a mere one fifth of its value as a aftermath of this scandal - how then does LBS reconcile this nomination with its mission “to have a positive impact on the professional and ethical standards of business management in Nigeria; to contribute to the advancement of the management disciplines?”
Despite series of email correspondences between the Alumni Director, the Dean of the school and I, I am yet to be provided an answer to my questions. As it normally plays out with scenarios like this, replies were defensive and entertaining. The Alumni Director said he was in no position to comment on the ex Chairman’s tenure at Cadbury and that the nominations were merely suggestions. He went on to say I could nominate anyone else I deemed fit. He missed the point as this is not about me but rather about LBS aligning with its tenets. His assertion that the nominations were suggestion is misleading. Neither in word nor insinuation was the nominations referred to as suggestions. In any case, isn’t there a fine line between “suggestions” and “nominations”? His reason for the suggestions was to “guide alumni in their choices as many do not know in the first place who is an alumni or not“- how scornful of the intelligence of the alumni!
There’s an alumni directory. Aren’t LBS alumni’s educated and enlightened enough to know how to utilize it? Going by his reason for making suggestions, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to make reference to the directory?
On further enquiry, he offered to forward my questions to the EXCO of the association but he was soon to send me another email saying “From me to you, the EXCO which I am a member of will not do anything contrary to the popular sentiments of our cherished alumni members; you can be rest assured on this” – his judge and jury pose was comical but raised more questions –who are the cherished alumni members and how truly did the nominations, now suggestions come to be?
The Dean’s response to my enquiry didn’t address my questions either. She chronicled the qualities to be exhibited to earn a nomination, further highlighting the contradictions of the EXCO nominees and buttressing my questions. Neither her response nor that of the Alumni Director’s said anything about the erroneous reference of their nomination as the Chairman of Cadbury - an inference that is grossly deceptive and proposes intent to manipulate. Otherwise, why else can a highly accredited business school make such a grand error and be reticent about it even after it’s been pointed out?
On further scrutiny, I noticed also that all nominees were past presidents of the alumni association. It’s bothersome that from a pool of at least a million alumni’s, only past presidents were deemed fit to be nominated by the EXCO - is this gesture in itself honorable? When I shared my observation, the Dean explained that their nomination was based on their contribution to the development of the society. Coincidental, maybe. Superficial, certainly.
Four days to the deadline to choose from the nominations, the Alumni Director sent out a reminder email. The last paragraph of the email attempted to clarify the misgiving between a nomination and a suggestion, still nothing was said about falseness of refereeing to the ex-chairman as the Chairman of Cadbury.
In our country today, the craving for quality education is colossal. The Lagos Business School has thankfully fed this hunger while simultaneously fostering for itself a followership of values. Its mission statements clearly highlight its admirable tenets and these are advocated aggressively in the classrooms. No doubt these are laudable achievements but this also demands leadership by example. It’s an old story, particularly in our society. We are asked to do right but also shown that the call for honor is qualified and that there are exceptions. From the home to the schools, from the offices to the place of worship, it’s sadly the same story.
An admirable quality of leadership is to be honorable. To admit wrongs and to work towards rectifying such errors. In retrospect, this is not the first time the LBS’s behavior has come to question. I remember the ex-Chairman’s stay as the President of the Alumni’s association was debated in my class. The moderator of the class justified the LBS’s stand then by saying the decision of SEC was been contested in court hence why he wasn’t asked to resign. I don’t what the outcome of the lawsuit is, if any, but I do know ethics doesn’t need the court to determine its place. Decency and honor are its base.
The ethical perspective is as distinct as night and day. There are no grays, maybes, ifs or buts. It treads the path of conviction and is noncontroversial. As a field for molding minds and characters, the danger of the LBS’s fallacy is disquieting. A generation looks to the LBS for management and administrative guidance and it deserves to be lead in honesty and by example. The haughty stand of LBS and its inability to give a firm response to my questions is bothersome. But more bothersome is its attempt to exonerate itself in the light of its contradictions. Worse still, it’s willingness to look right through its blunder. All of these sadly suggest a ruse and the young and promising Nigerian deserves more.
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the alumni association of the school asking for choices between a number of nominees for the Distinquished Alunmi award and President’s award. The email stated that the Distinquished Alunmi award is for “alumus/alumna in recognition of excellent service to the society” and listed 5 nominees. I was smacked by the first nominee - an ex-chairman of Cadbury who was ousted along with the entire board due to financial malpractices. And not only was he nominated for the award, the email referred to him as the “Chairman of Cadbury”. Unable to appreciate the falseness, I replied the email. First pointing out the error in title, but more importantly, questioning his nomination when mirrored against the mission statement and teachings of the school.
In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concluded its investigation into the Cadbury scam, affirming that the management, in concert with its board of directors, deliberately filed financial statements that contained untrue and misleading information from 2002 – 2006. N13.255 billion was the accumulated overstatement for the period. SEC also discovered undocumented and undisclosed offshore account from which the executive directors were paid offshore remuneration – none of this was ever recorded in the company’s financial report. SEC consequently suspended the affected officials (including the Chairman of the board) from operating in the capital market and referred them to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for further investigation and prosecution. SEC also sanctioned Cadbury’s eternal auditor – Akintola Williams Delloite – and Registrar – Union Registrars Ltd. The findings were published and have remained public knowledge. I and other shareholders watched in dismay as the value of our shareholdings swindled to a mere one fifth of its value as a aftermath of this scandal - how then does LBS reconcile this nomination with its mission “to have a positive impact on the professional and ethical standards of business management in Nigeria; to contribute to the advancement of the management disciplines?”
Despite series of email correspondences between the Alumni Director, the Dean of the school and I, I am yet to be provided an answer to my questions. As it normally plays out with scenarios like this, replies were defensive and entertaining. The Alumni Director said he was in no position to comment on the ex Chairman’s tenure at Cadbury and that the nominations were merely suggestions. He went on to say I could nominate anyone else I deemed fit. He missed the point as this is not about me but rather about LBS aligning with its tenets. His assertion that the nominations were suggestion is misleading. Neither in word nor insinuation was the nominations referred to as suggestions. In any case, isn’t there a fine line between “suggestions” and “nominations”? His reason for the suggestions was to “guide alumni in their choices as many do not know in the first place who is an alumni or not“- how scornful of the intelligence of the alumni!
There’s an alumni directory. Aren’t LBS alumni’s educated and enlightened enough to know how to utilize it? Going by his reason for making suggestions, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to make reference to the directory?
On further enquiry, he offered to forward my questions to the EXCO of the association but he was soon to send me another email saying “From me to you, the EXCO which I am a member of will not do anything contrary to the popular sentiments of our cherished alumni members; you can be rest assured on this” – his judge and jury pose was comical but raised more questions –who are the cherished alumni members and how truly did the nominations, now suggestions come to be?
The Dean’s response to my enquiry didn’t address my questions either. She chronicled the qualities to be exhibited to earn a nomination, further highlighting the contradictions of the EXCO nominees and buttressing my questions. Neither her response nor that of the Alumni Director’s said anything about the erroneous reference of their nomination as the Chairman of Cadbury - an inference that is grossly deceptive and proposes intent to manipulate. Otherwise, why else can a highly accredited business school make such a grand error and be reticent about it even after it’s been pointed out?
On further scrutiny, I noticed also that all nominees were past presidents of the alumni association. It’s bothersome that from a pool of at least a million alumni’s, only past presidents were deemed fit to be nominated by the EXCO - is this gesture in itself honorable? When I shared my observation, the Dean explained that their nomination was based on their contribution to the development of the society. Coincidental, maybe. Superficial, certainly.
Four days to the deadline to choose from the nominations, the Alumni Director sent out a reminder email. The last paragraph of the email attempted to clarify the misgiving between a nomination and a suggestion, still nothing was said about falseness of refereeing to the ex-chairman as the Chairman of Cadbury.
In our country today, the craving for quality education is colossal. The Lagos Business School has thankfully fed this hunger while simultaneously fostering for itself a followership of values. Its mission statements clearly highlight its admirable tenets and these are advocated aggressively in the classrooms. No doubt these are laudable achievements but this also demands leadership by example. It’s an old story, particularly in our society. We are asked to do right but also shown that the call for honor is qualified and that there are exceptions. From the home to the schools, from the offices to the place of worship, it’s sadly the same story.
An admirable quality of leadership is to be honorable. To admit wrongs and to work towards rectifying such errors. In retrospect, this is not the first time the LBS’s behavior has come to question. I remember the ex-Chairman’s stay as the President of the Alumni’s association was debated in my class. The moderator of the class justified the LBS’s stand then by saying the decision of SEC was been contested in court hence why he wasn’t asked to resign. I don’t what the outcome of the lawsuit is, if any, but I do know ethics doesn’t need the court to determine its place. Decency and honor are its base.
The ethical perspective is as distinct as night and day. There are no grays, maybes, ifs or buts. It treads the path of conviction and is noncontroversial. As a field for molding minds and characters, the danger of the LBS’s fallacy is disquieting. A generation looks to the LBS for management and administrative guidance and it deserves to be lead in honesty and by example. The haughty stand of LBS and its inability to give a firm response to my questions is bothersome. But more bothersome is its attempt to exonerate itself in the light of its contradictions. Worse still, it’s willingness to look right through its blunder. All of these sadly suggest a ruse and the young and promising Nigerian deserves more.
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