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Multinational German telecommunications firm, Siemens AG, has
assured Nigerians that it will pay the price for the bribery scandal involving
it and some top government officials, if fined by the federal government.

The Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Nigeria Limited, Alain De
Cat, said this on Thursday at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s (NESG)
Executive Business Roundtable in Lagos, held to discuss business principles as
tools to strengthening ethics and transparency in the conduct of business in
Nigeria.

Mr. De Cat, who stated that the company had paid over a billion
dollars in fines and sanctions to regulators in both Munich and Washington,
said investing in Nigeria’s future is, however, a more profitable venture for
the nation than paying fines.

“Siemens will be willing to pay Nigeria back by investing in
Nigeria’s future, which is by investing in training for capacity building of
Nigerians to develop the nation’s local content, which the federal government
is very particular about,” said the telecoms company boss, who just assumed his
office in Nigeria last month.

Siemens AG in 2008, agreed to pay $1.3 billion in penalties to
U.S. and German authorities, for bribing government officials in several
countries, including Nigeria, from 2001 to 2007.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), last week,
renewed its investigations into the bribery case, saying it is going to
question three former ministers implicated in the corruption scandal involving
Siemens AG.

Promoting self regulation

“We always underestimate what can happen in one year and
over-estimate what can happen in 10 years,” he said, urging Nigerian companies
and business to develop the attitude of ‘self-regulation’, which he said can be
strengthened via some sort of public vigilance, such as using independent
feed-back mechanism. He enumerated steps taken by Siemens Nigeria Limited to
enhance the efficiency of its operations in Nigeria to include publishing of
business guidelines, collective action, encouraging whistle-blowing from staff,
and a no cash transaction policy, amongst others.

The chairperson of the occasion and former Nigerian envoy to the
United Kingdom, Christopher Kolade, admitted that the Nigerian business
environment is entering a season where regulators have become very important
and dominant. “They (the regulators) may be tempted to give a knee-jerk
reaction to challenges,” he said, calling on the business community to look for
sustainable ways of planning how to do business and doing business the right
way.

“Recent dictates from the corridors of power show that methods of catching
criminals is what is being developed, rather than building methods to support
those who want to do business rightly. In focusing on codes and law, we look
for people who practice compliance. Rather, what we need to get are people who
will generate commitment to the fulfilment of the responsibility they are
assigned to,” he said.