The Chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, on Thursday in Lagos, said she accepted the position because of her belief that such a company was needed to transform the nation’s economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Okereke-Onyiuke, who was explaining the recent exit of some of the directors of the company, added that before accepting the job, she gave two major conditions.

The two conditions, according to her, are that the Federal Government must not own a single share in Transcorp and that the company must be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange to give every Nigerian the opportunity to own shares in the company.

“When President Olusegun Obasanjo invited 32 of us about this idea of Transcorp, he said, ‘You are the people who make money in the Nigeria and reinvest in the country. Go and make this idea that had worked in the Asian countries work in Nigeria’. He then tasked us to go and register the company and see how it can improve the fortunes of Nigeria,” she said.

She explained that the company had made significant progress and was on the way to fulfilling part of its mission of becoming an internationally competitive conglomerate, supplying world-class products and services globally.

She added that the conditions she gave before becoming the chairman of the company had been adhered to as the government had no share in the company while the shares had already been quoted on the NSE.

“The listing has given more Nigerians the opportunity to become part owners of the company and the Initial Public Offering that will open next week would give more Nigerians the opportunity to buy shares in the company. My belief in the company to transform the economy for the benefits of all Nigerians remains unchanged,” she said.

Speaking on the resignation of some of the directors who are also managing directors of banks due to a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Okereke-Onyiuke said that policy was not targeted at Transcorp.

She explained that the CBN realised that 18 managing directors of banks were serving on boards of companies that were not subsidiaries of the banks.

She said, “Apparently to invoke the provisions of section 3(a) of BOFIA 1991, CBN had to issue a policy statement to all bank managing directors serving on the boards of companies that are not their subsidiaries to resign.

The CBN gave the banks two weeks to do that and three of Transcorp directors are affected. The policy was not targeted at Transcorp and the exit of the three directors does not cause crisis in the company.”