First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, in partnership with CFA Society Nigeria, hosted its annual flagship event, the Universities Ethics Challenge final in Lagos on Saturday.
The Universities Ethics Challenge is designed to increase students’ awareness of the ethical dilemmas and issues they may face when they become finance and investment management professionals.
During the Ethics Challenge, students are given adapted real life ethics case studies to analyze and evaluate ethical issues raised, then make recommendations and present same to a panel of judges from whom they field questions relating to the case presented.
The judges for the 2022 edition of the annual challenge included Oluropo Okunmuyide, Head, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd; Taiwo Olatunji, CFA, Head, Investment Banking, Coronation Merchant Bank; Tomilola Olakiigbe, CFA, Head Finance, All-On Energy; Eno Atoyebi, CFA, Managing Director, Valualliance Asset Management and Kazeem Alimi, CFA, Head Secondary Markets, NGX Limited.
22 Universities registered and onboarded for the Challenge which kicked off in May, 2022. Subsequently, 13 Universities, comprising 3 from the North and 10 from the South participated in the regional rounds.
The schools included Abia State University, Ahmadu Below University, Zaria, Clifford University, Coal City University, Covenant University, Madonna University, Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Abuja. Others were the University of Benin, the University of Ilorin, the University of Lagos, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the University of Port Harcourt.
Following a stiffly contested and rigorous semi-finals, 4 of these schools namely: Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Lagos, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and University of Port Harcourt advanced to the grand finale.
According to Ibukun Oyedeji, CFA, the President of CFA Society Nigeria, “strong ethics and high standards of professional conduct play a vital role in the integrity and ongoing success of the investment industry. As new talent joins the professional ranks, it is important that they do so with a commitment to operate according to these principles. Therefore, CFA Society Nigeria whose mission is to promote the highest standards of investment practice in Nigeria hosts this annual Ethics Challenge with the support of First Bank Nigeria Ltd to give university students a unique opportunity to learn about and apply the principles of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. A more ethical investment profession starts here!”
Expressing her delight at the event, Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, FirstBank said: “Our sponsorship of the annual CFA Society Nigeria Ethics Challenge competition is one of the ways we contribute to youth empowerment. We commend the CFA Society for its continued commitment to this initiative.
As a financial institution that focuses on nation building, the relevance of ethical practices is demonstrated in our embedded policies and processes, in the initiatives we support such as Samuel Asabia Chair in Business Ethics in University of Lagos. This is because we know that ethical practices are beneficial to finance and investment professionals including all market participants and stakeholders which leads to increased investor confidence in global financial markets,” she concluded.
