TACKLING CORRUPTION - AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS AGENDA - David Grayson

You are approached by a business-person from Nigeria with a request to do business. Do you (a) listen carefully and positively; or (b) run a mile? Stereotypes are hard to break; but a small, committed NGO in Nigeria: CBi: the Convention for Business Integrity aims to do just that.

CBi (www.theconvention.org) is chaired by Dr Christopher Kolade - the former chairman of Cadbury Nigeria and now Nigeria's High Commissioner in London. It is the brainchild of Soji Apampa from SAP, Nigeria.

Soji is also co-chair of the Nigerian chapter of the Global Compact (along with Coca Cola's local Director for Public Affairs and Communications). CBi has several multinational signatories including Cadbury, Pfizer, Dunlop and SAP; and several Nigerian smes as well as the Lagos Business School (started by IESE, Spain), and several prominent individuals. CBi also acts as the Nigerian delivery arm of the Commonwealth Business Council's "Business Action against Corruption" - which is also closely linked to Business Action on Africa. Transparency International - Nigeria - is a signatory of CBi.

I was in Nigeria a few days ago to help CBi to produce a toolkit for smes and other potential signatories to CBi to help them to integrate their commitment against corruption into their business purpose and strategy; and to achieve the CBi "Big Tick" accreditation. This is an assignment funded by the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK FCO. The toolkit will be launched in Lagos later this year.

To illustrate the scale of the corruption challenge facing Nigeria: "Despite billions of petrodollars flowing in since the 1970s, Nigerians are considerably worse off today than they were in 1980. About 71% of them live on less than $1 a day, infant mortality is high and the country is unlikely to achieve any of the UN's millennium development goals by 2015... Corruption may have cost the country as much as $400 billion since independence, equivalent to about two-thirds of all the Western aid given to Africa during the same period." (Capping the well-heads of corruption - The Economist - 21 Oct 2006).

An oped piece in the Nigerian "Guardian" newspaper (Oct 31st), made a similar point, quoting the recent disclosure by the Chairman of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC): Mallam Nuhu Ribadu that about N65 trillion (£220 billion) has been stolen by past Nigerian leaders over the 45 years since independence.

I met / spoke to about 20 businesses - mainly smes. I am in awe of the courage that these owner-managers are showing in trying to fight corruption - and the every-day horror stories of lost business and intimidation to succumb to the pervasive bribery culture. A journalist - asked to cover a "Business Action against Corruption" event in Abuja recently - phoned one of the CBi staff team the night before and said: "we normally charge one million naira to cover a story - but I'll do it for 500,000 - just make sure you bring along the fee in cash tomorrow and then we can split the money!" This to the CBi staffer! Needless to say, no fee was paid, no story was filed! (250Naira = one pound). My talk to small businessmen and women in Lagos on Oct 31st is posted on my website under speeches / 2006: www.davidgrayson.net

Whilst intellectually, I always knew that corruption is a fundamental part of the CR / responsible business agenda, this really was a wake-up call in understanding just how central to CR, the anti-corruption commitment has to be, in many cultures.

The goal - as Soji Apampa describes it - "My vision is that I will be able to walk in to a stranger's office in London or New York, hand over my visiting card, and - instead of the mental barriers shooting up because of my Nigerian address - the person I am meeting, is ready to trust me and wants to do business with me, because he sees the Big Tick of CBi on my visiting card - immediately recognizing what it takes to achieve. Our goal is that the CBi Big Tick will become so well-known and respected, that it will be as though organisations which have it, don't need strangers to do further due diligence on them. The Big Tick should be a kite-mark for honesty and integrity."

Any international business with operations in Nigeria, should consider asking their subsidiary to sign up to the Convention on Business Integrity. If your business is doing business with Nigerian firms, you could similarly encourage your customer / supplier in Nigeria to join CBi. And anyone interested in Responsible Business internationally, could consider what practical tools and resources to fight corruption that you have and which might make available to CBi for the resources section of their toolkit.

David Grayson - November 2006

David.grayson@bitc.org.uk