Tunde Bakare
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has charged the management of Guinness Plc on the need to ensure compliance with rules and regulations in the course of doing business in the country.
He gave the charge on Tuesday, May 12, 2026 in his remarks as he received the management team of the company, led by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Girish Sharma in his office.
“I want to thank you for what you stand for. I heard your director talking of compliance. That’s one of the things you must hold very dear to your heart if you don’t want to have any problems. I keep telling people that it’s cheaper for you to comply than not to. Whatever you think you are saving by not complying, you will lose with time. It’s never too expensive to comply. The cost you put into compliance is never lost. So, I want you to continue to sustain that decision which is good for business. Once you are compliant, we will work together,” he said.
He expressed delight with the corporate social responsibility endeavours of the company, stating that it demonstrated the emphasis of the company on not just growing bottom-line but prioritizing giving back to the society. “In respect to your CSR, I would like to also thank you for giving back to the society that is giving you so much worth. One thing that I promise with my mandate before assuming office is to use the instrumentality of this work to stimulate the economy and one of the ways is to work with corporate bodies like you”, he said.
Olukoyede observed that in addition to the Commission’s investigation and prosecution duties, it has a mandate to prevent financial crime from taking place. The department of Fraud Risk Assessment and Control, he stated works with ministries departments and agencies as well as the private sector. It looks at the risk factors in their operations, makes assessments and determines the control.
In addition, he stressed that the Commission regularly “looks at tax records and make sure that you observe your financial responsibilities to the government; make sure that you file your tax returns because your failure to pay tax is a crime and your failure to pay the actual amount you are supposed to pay is also a crime and failure to file your tax returns on time is a crime too, so we no longer wait for people to commit crime, we work with them to prevent the commission of crimes”
In his remarks, Sharma reiterated the strong faith of Guinness Plc in the Nigerian economy. A faith, he noted, that has spanned 76 years. “As we all know, the past few years have been pretty turbulent for Nigeria and we have seen a lot of companies exiting Nigeria. The good news is that Guinness Nigeria has not exited Nigeria for 76 years.
While making a presentation of the activities of Guinness Nigeria in the areas of CSR, company core values and product portfolio, Rotimi Odusola, Corporate Relations/Legal Director of the company, declared the resolve of the company to always play by the rules in the country.
He stated that Guinness Nigeria plc was very proud of its association with Nigeria, adding that “One other thing that we are proud of as a company is that we do business the right way. We believe that there is no right way to do the wrong thing. Therefore, it is extremely important to us as an organization that compliance with rules, with regulations, with laws is at the top of the manner in which we do our business,” he said.