By Taiye Olayemi
Compliance and governance experts on Thursday called for stronger ethical leadership, compliance systems and accountability frameworks across Africa to boost investor confidence and global repositioning.
They spoke at the Africa Ethical Compliance Future Summit in Lagos with the theme ‘Culture, Conduct and Global Standards’.
Compliance expert, Muthoni Oriewo, said ethical values must begin at home and continue in organisations.
She said growing shortcuts, favouritism and unethical behaviour were shaping workforce quality in organisations.
She cited parents using influence to secure school admissions and jobs for children over more qualified candidates.
According to her, such practices later manifest in workplaces and weaken governance systems.
“The future of compliance in Africa lies in the people we are raising, mentoring and sponsoring.
“If we raise children who do not understand accountability and responsibility, we will continue to face governance and ethical challenges in the future,” she said.
Oriewo emphasised that effective compliance programmes must be driven by leadership and organisational culture.
She said leaders must demonstrate integrity, ethics and compliance in personal and professional conduct.
“Compliance gives organisations credibility, operational resilience and investor confidence.
“Most global investors and multinational companies now require strong compliance frameworks before doing business,” she said.
The expert advised organisations to invest in human resources and AI tools for compliance monitoring and risk management.
Oriewo cautioned that AI should complement human judgment rather than replace it.
“AI does not have a moral compass. It only learns from information humans provide,” she said.
She called for stronger whistleblower protection frameworks across Africa to encourage reporting of misconduct.
According to her, organisations must create safe reporting channels and protect whistleblowers from retaliation.
Oriewo advocated African regulatory cooperation and information sharing to strengthen cross-border enforcement.
Idris Belo-Osagie, Special Adviser to the Finance Minister and Senior Partner at Armada Associates, said compliance officers were macroeconomic actors influencing investor confidence.
He urged boards to treat governance as value-creating rather than box-ticking compliance.
Belo-Osagie said regulatory consistency was critical as investors price signals into decisions.
Ayobami Adisa, Founder of Graypatch Advisory, said Africa must change negative governance perceptions.
“Until we change wrong perceptions about Nigeria and Africa, global scrutiny of businesses will persist,” he said.
He said organisations were judged by profitability, governance culture, transparency and leadership integrity.
Adisa urged continuous professional development for compliance professionals to remain globally competitive.
He said Africa had exceptional professionals capable of global standards with right institutional support.
Ina Alogwu, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at T2 Mobile, urged proactive compliance and risk management systems.
He said businesses should adopt predictive data systems to anticipate risks and customer needs.
According to him, compliance must evolve with customer expectations and technological advancement.
He urged firms to prioritise transparency, responsible data use and cyber resilience to build trust.
He warned against treating customer data as commercial asset without consent.
Adetokunbo Omotosho, Chief Executive Officer of Cybervergent Inc., likened customer data to a treasured possession requiring protection.
He said protecting data strengthens trust, reputation and long-term business advantage.
Edidiong Akan, Chief Compliance Officer at Stanbic IBTC Pension, urged strong ethical culture empowering employees to resist unethical demands.
Akan also stressed cybersecurity discipline and warned against password compromise or security breaches.
She emphasised organisations must continuously communicate values and ethical standards to employees.
According to her, integrity violations should not be tolerated, even if mistakes can be corrected through training.