Chairman, DAAR Communications Plc, owners of AIT, Raypower and Faaji FM, Raymond Dokpesi (Jnr), has explained that the retirement of some of the company’s directors was not a personal but corporate decision, which was taken in accord the company’s policy on retirement of executive directors who have occupied management positions for over a decade.
In an interview with the Daily Sun in Abuja, Dokpesi Jnr said the retirement of the directors was in fact long overdue going by the Code of Corporate Governance and the internal documents of the company which state that management should only do a maximum of two terms of five years.
He specifically said the decision ought to have been made even as far back as five, six and seven years ago.
Dokpesi added that if he had his way, he would not for any reason have allowed the affected directors to quit the company considering their skills and experiences in the management of the company.
Dokpesi said: “Well, I think the first thing to recognise is that it isn’t a personal decision to ask anyone to go. If I had it left to me and to myself, I would definitely want to harness the experiences, the relationships and the skills that the existing management has for a little bit longer. But the reality of the matter is that we are a publicly listed company.
“We are the only publicly listed media company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and that means that we are also bound by the Securities and Exchange Commission rules and the Code of Corporate Governance is mandatory for all publicly listed companies. So, that means that our responsibilities to our shareholders transcend personal choices or personal opinions.”
Dokpesi further said if there were to be a management audit of the company, it would be discovered that many of them had started being in management since the very inception of the organisation.
“We have persons who are leaving the organisation after 27 years; we have people who are leaving after 22 years. Most of this time, they have spent in executive management positions and yet, the Code of Corporate Governance and our internal documents state that we should only do a maximum of two terms of five years,” the Daar Communications boss stated.
“So, their retirement is in fact, long overdue. It was a decision which ought to have been made even as far back as five, six, seven years ago. But as of that time, my dad was still alive, very present and very active and also, we were going through different political turbulence as far as our organization was concerned. Nobody needs to be reminded of the history of the Buhari administration with reference to the treatment of AIT and our founder in particular.”
Dokpesi also said the decision at that time was that it might not be the best period in which to try to implement wholesome changes to the structure of the organization.
“Notwithstanding, whatever you want to say about the incumbent administration, I think to some large extent, they have shown their capacity for accommodation of all shades of opinions from public broadcasters. We don’t feel the heat and the intimidation of governments as we did a couple of years ago and the time is opportune and right as well for us to review where exactly we want to go, going forward from here.
“For me, and I think also for the vast majority of members of our board, the decision comes down simply to whether we want to continue on our existing trajectory or we want to do something differently? And if we are looking at doing something differently, it means that we have to subject ourselves to abide by the terms and conditions of extant laws and regulations to give the investing public confidence in our organization and the administration and also to be able to attract the kinds of funds and investments that we need to grow and expand beyond our existing programmes,” Dokpesi stated.
Responding to what the development portends for the organization, Dokpesi explained that as a public limited company, there are statutory committees responsible for appointing people into specific positions.
“We are talking about very senior levels of management here. So, we have a Corporate Governance Committee whose task is to pursue the recruitment of alternatives, as well as headhunts from within the industry, those who are deemed to be capable, those who are qualified and have some track record of success in their various past endeavours to give us the confidence that yes, they can come in and fit in with the new plans and the new strategy we have going forward,” Dokpesi further explained.
“But certainly, opportunities will open up for people, both within the organization, to grow into new positions, but they shall also open up for other people from outside the organisation and from the broader sector of the industry of the broadcast media and entertainment industry and to also come in and play a role,” Dokpesi concluded.
Daily Sun
