Connected Development (CODE), a non-profit group that mobilises and empowers marginalised communities across Africa, has endorsed a new policy into law as part of efforts to improve its corporate identity and strengthen the internal structures of the organisation.
The exercise, which took place on Friday, May 21, 2021 during a four-day management and trustees meeting held in Abuja, also witnessed the amendment and ratification of other relevant policies to realign with the fresh document and mission of the organisation.
Conducted by the Lagos Business School (LBS), the assessment scrutinised the entire organisational structure including the relationship between the workers and board members to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the final report.
The need to review the guidelines became eminent after several governance and financial crisis that erupted the organisation in 2019, and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that shutdown nearly every socio-economic activity globally in 2020.
Papers were presented on the state and strategic plan of the organisation as well as the 21st century role of non-profit board of trustees and management towards organisational efficiency, productivity and social impact.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, while shedding light on some of these challenges that made his corporation to adopt the new policy, said the report revealed that there was need to reposition the corporate outlook of his establishment.
“As much as we were excited about our work and we thought everything was fine,” Lawal said, “but that assessment and some of its key findings showed that we needed to fix some things if we have to scale-up and grow in our next phase.”
The group’s helmsman disclosed that the summit was organised to bring the management staffs and board members together to bond and brainstorm on how best to direct affairs of the organisation.
He told the participants that the many setbacks that CODE faced in the past few years actually fortified and took the organisation to its current height of success and fulfillment.
“In 2019,” according to him, “we encountered serious governance issues and at that time for us we thought that would have been the end of our organisation because we were not operating with best practices.”
However, he clarified that with support from the LBS and commitment from board members who worked tirelessly in reshaping the organisational corporate policies, CODE was able to come back stronger with one of the best financial systems across the continent.
Acting chairman of the organisation, Anthony Agbor, while giving his remarks at the event, thanked the participants for their loyalty and commitment in engaging grass roots communities especially during the COVID-19 saga that almost crippled all human activities.
He urged the team to maintain its focus knowing that the future of Nigeria and the continent rest on the activities of the organisation.
“We should not relent in our commitment to reach out to the grass roots and empower them to see reasons to rebuild the focus of this country and get us back on the part of glory,” Agbor submitted.
By Etta Michael Bisong
