As broadcast giants, Ambrose Somide, Tosin Dokpesi, Tony Akiotu, and seven others leave Daar Communications by October ending, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of DAAR Communications Plc, Raymond Dokpesi Jr, has given the reason for their compulsory retirement.
According to him, it is in line with statutory requirements because Daar is a publicly quoted company, based on the length of the veterans’ services with the company.
The other seven on the list are Anthony Uyah, Ms Paulyn Ugbodagha, Mrs Mary Lawrence-Dokpesi, Ms. Faith Ikems, Messr. Imoni Mac Amarere, John Iwarue and Johnson Onime.
In an interview with ‘The Punch’, Dokpesi Jr said, “We are a publicly listed company and the only publicly listed media company on the stock exchange, and that means we are also bound by Securities and Exchange Commission rules, and the code of corporate governance is mandatory for all publicly listed companies. That means that our responsibility to our shareholders transcends personal choices and opinions.
“It is true that when you look at the tenures of the existing members of management, many of them have started as part of the management since the inception of the organisation.
He pointed out that, as of the time, the founder, Raymond Dokpesi, was still alive and dealing with political pressure from the government; hence, the timing wasn’t right to make such major changes.
He said: “The time is opportune and right as well for us to review where we want to go from here. For me and the majority of the members of our board, the decision comes down to simply determining whether we want to continue on our existing trajectory or we want to do something different.
“If we are looking at doing something differently, it means that we have to subject ourselves to abide by the terms and conditions of extant laws and regulations, to give the investing public confidence in our organisation and the administration and to be able to attract the kind of funds that we need to grow and expand beyond our existing programmes.”
He added, “Certainly, the financials of the organisation show that shareholder capital has been eroded for a number of years now. We have serious liquidity issues, which have also been flagged and raised in past numbers of annual reports. So, we cannot sweep these issues under the carpet. We have to be able to proactively address them. We may have to look at what kind of solutions are available to us as an entity listed on NGX.
“We have to find the right kinds of opportunities that exist for raising capital either through equity or debt. But these are considerations that really gear us forward after we have done the basic restructuring of the organisation and by that, I mean compliance with the best practices of corporate governance and identifying talent with a track record of success to give us the confidence that they can come in and fit in with our new strategy and give us the best shot at success.”
He disclosed that the changes made would provide opportunities for those within and outside the organisation.
