...harps on What Akwa Ibom Businesses Must Do to Survive
The 2021 Bar Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Uyo Branch has been flagged-off in Uyo, with a call on Akwa Ibom youths to conquer their fears and rise to the heights of their callings, without soiling their hands or compromising their spiritual values.
The immediate past Executive Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Subsidiaries in Nigeria, Mr. Udom Inoyo gave the charge while delivering his keynote lecture during the opening ceremony of the 2021 Bar Week, kicked-off by the Akwa Ibom State Chief Judge, Honourable Justice Godwin Abraham.
Udom Inoyo, FCIPM who is a former National President, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) in Nigeria and presently serves in the Akwa Ibom State Economic Advisory Committee, urged the youths never to stop believing in themselves, adding that, "the moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it".
In his words, "Most of you know me and if there is a central theme to my story, it is the fact that it is possible to get to the top of a career without compromising one's spiritual values or soiling one's hands. That could also be your testimony. So, rise and push forward."
To the Akwa Ibom business community, Mr. Inoyo noted that for current and future businesses and industries in the state to join the Ivory League of global firms still standing beyond hundred years, operators of such businesses and industries must always find ways of evolving themselves to beat the changing peculiarities in the spaces they operate and must remain resolute in upholding the timeless principles of hard work, diligence and integrity, no matter the pressure to do otherwise.
He listed an array of businesses that have failed in the past and advised present and future business leaders to avoid the pitfalls that resulted in failures in the past.
Mr. Inoyo commended the Governor Udom Emmanuel-led administration for providing enabling business environment and for inspiring industrialization in the state, but noted that operators of such firms must think out of the box and uphold global best practices to keep them running for decades to come.
Addressing the lawyers on the theme of the 2021 Bar Week "Legal Profession and the Emerging Global Economy", Mr. Inoyo said, "Make no mistake, the economy of the 21st century has already been defined largely by technological advancement and only those who adapt quickly to this reality will have a place at the table. We need to adjust to the new global trends across all sectors, failing which we would be left behind."
He said it was time for lawyers to begin the process of retooling and reskilling for the opportunities the emerging global economy presents.
Inoyo, himself a trained lawyer, also enjoined Nigerian lawyers to urgently address a preponderance of corporate governance issues in the country and work towards domesticating useful anti-corruption laws such as the US' Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK's Anti-Bribery Act, as they affect operations of businesses in Nigeria.
He announced his readiness to partner with the Bar in areas such as Capacity Building, Synergy for Sustainable Legal Practice, Structured In-Chambers Experience, Opportunities in MDAs, Enrollment in Federal Public Service, as well as Contributions towards Judiciary Reforms.
Earlier at the ceremony, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Uyo Branch, Aniema Etuk, had commended his colleagues for summounting the COVID 19 challenge and appealed to them to brace up for other challenges ahead, in elevating the status of the legal profession.
Barr. Aniema Etuk noted that the choice of the theme of the 2021 Bar Week was inspired by the necessity to better position practitioners of law in the state for the new realities of the emerging global business environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment