Adeboye: Reps disown FRC’s new guidelines

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, disowned the new guidelines introduced by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) on governance of churches, mosques and non-governmental organisations.

It will be recalled that the Federal Government had dissolved its board and sacked its Chief Executive Officer, Jim Obazee, following the controversy generated by the introduction of the code, which led to the reported stepping aside of the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church God (RCCG), Pastor E. A. Adeboye.

The House, on Wednesday at its plenary session, affirmed that the controversial Governance Code formulated by the council “as it relates to heads of non-profit making organisations is a clear usurpation of the powers of the National Assembly, as stipulated in Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.”

The House then directed the council to suspend the code.

Consequently, the House mandated the Committee on Delegated Legislations to carry out a detailed public hearing on the activities of the FRC and report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.

The House resolution was sequel to a motion moved by the Minority Leader, Honourable Leo Ogor, entitled: “Urgent need to stem the controversy within the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) occasioned by the interpretation of FRCN Codes.”

While moving the motion, the lawmaker noted that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria Act of 2011 was a creation of the National Assembly, adding that the objective of the council, among others, was to protect investors and other stakeholders’ interests, as well as ensuring good corporate governance practices in the public and private sectors of the economy.

He added that “Section 73 of the FRCN Act grants the council powers to make regulations which must be in consonance with the Act.

He also raised concern that the National Assembly “has not in any way approved the corporate governance code as it did with the building code.”

According to him, “the code of corporate governance must be in conformity with international best practices, stressing that an overzealous Chief  Executive Officer of a regulatory body can misinterpret or misapply the provisions of the code, as can be seen in the case of the FRCN.”

While supporting the motion, Honourables Kingsley Chinda, Jimoh Oladele, Sunday Karimi and Raphael Igbokwe condemned the new code, noting that it was enforced without ratification by the National Assembly.

When the motion was put to vote by the Speaker, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, it was unanimously supported by members.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government as well as the National Assembly have been called upon to repeal the law.

The call was made by the Presiding Bishop of Victory International Church, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun, while addressing journalists at the church’s headquarters, Rehoboth Cathedral, Victoryland complex, Oluyole Estate Extension, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Wednesday.

Adelakun said: “The law of the land is different from that of God, our creator. The calling of men of God is divine, while the law is man-made. We are appealing to the government to repeal that law. The law is not going to foster any revival in our land, it will rather draw us back. The National Assembly, as the lawmaking organ of the government, should, as a matter of urgency, make move for the repealing of the law.

“It is also pertinent to note here that it is not the duty of the government to make law that will guide the operations of the church. Every chosen servant of God must work till the very last day. God will be the only one to determine when a leader of the church should quit. In fact, God does not give a stipulated time.”

He further stated that: ”We appreciate the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, for suspending that law, but the best thing to do is to repeal it. We understand the fact that there are some chalatans smearing the name of the ministry, but God knows how to deal with them.”

He, therefore, advised government to ensure concentration on more salient developmental issues rather than dabbling into issues that affect the church, which are more spiritual than physical.