A House Divided Cannot Collect Rent: Why ISPON Must Freeze All Dues and Training Fees by Femi Da-silva

The ISPON Question: Are We Paying Attention?

For any professional body, legitimacy is not a luxury, it is the bedrock of its authority. When that bedrock fractures, everything built upon it begins to tilt.

The ongoing leadership crisis within the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) has reached a critical juncture. For years, members have been pulled between two primary camps: one led by Chief (Dr) Stephen L.A. Udezi and the other by Engr. Timothy Iwuagwu.

While members have desperately looked for a path toward a unified front, the latest judicial twist proves that forcing a “business as usual” approach is no longer justifiable.

On June 9, 2026, a Federal High Court sitting in Benin City (Suit No: FHC/B/CS/4/2024) set aside the very judgment that mandated the October 2024 unification election. In a striking revelation, the Registrar of the Udezi-led board, Ben Modebe, issued a statement acknowledging that the court’s latest ruling essentially recognizes three distinct factions and still expects a unified election based on a March 2024 MOU.

Crucially, the court did not name a bona fide ISPON President. Instead, it left the institute in a profound state of legal limbo.

To the Occupational Safety, Health, and Environmental professionals, compliance officers, and risk managers who form the backbone of this body, this is an ethical and financial breaking point. All three factions must immediately suspend the collection of yearly dues, halt all money-making training programs, and cease all parallel competitive activities until this legal entanglement is resolved.

While they can and should continue with safety awareness campaigns and public advocacy to keep the profession alive, any venture that involves collecting money from members must be frozen immediately.

The Concrete Justification for a Financial Freeze

If there was ever any doubt that ISPON’s leadership is completely unsettled, this latest June 2026 update erases it. Continuing to collect revenue under the current circumstances is entirely unjustifiable for several reasons:

The Reality of Three Factions: By the admission of the Udezi-led board’s own secretariat, the judiciary now views the institute as split into three factions that still need to hold a proper, jointly organized election.

The Financial Trap for Members: If the courts have invalidated the foundation of the 2024 unified board, and no single president is legally recognized, who holds the true mandate to collect money? Members paying dues or expensive training fees to one faction risk having their credentials invalidated by another. Forcing professionals to fund competing secretariats is an administrative trap.

The Compliance Hypocrisy: As safety and compliance professionals, we preach risk management, governance, and institutional integrity to corporate boardrooms. It is highly hypocritical for our own regulatory house to demand financial compliance while its own legal identity is completely fractured.

Shift the Focus: From Cash Flows to Resolution

As long as the bank accounts of these factions remain active and funded by unsuspecting or pressured members, there is zero financial incentive for leadership to seek a swift, final resolution. The continuous inflow of annual dues and training revenue acts as a financial cushion, prolonging an unnecessary war of attrition.

By cutting off the financial oxygen of this dispute, all sides will be forced to focus entirely on what matters: securing the certified true copies of judgments, aligning with the gazetted MOU, and delivering a genuinely unified, legally unassailable election. The priority must be resolving the identity crisis of ISPON, not expanding parallel treasuries.

A Call to Action for Safety Practitioners and Establishments

This June 2026 ruling is a definitive wake-up call. We are the stakeholders of this institute, not passive spectators to endless litigation.

An Immediate Moratorium on Dues and Trainings: We must collectively demand an official freeze on all financial obligations, professional exams, and paid workshops across all secretariats until a definitive, unchallengeable legal framework or unified election settles the leadership once and for all.
Corporate and Institutional Enforcement: Professionals working within corporate organizations, government agencies, and various private establishments must take a stand. Ensure that within your respective organizations, all processing of ISPON dues, paid training requests, and vendor payments to any faction are completely ceased until the legal status is clear.
Keep Awareness Alive, Stop the Monetization: We encourage the factions to continue driving safety advocacy, public safety education, and professional awareness. Let the focus shift from making money to building a safer Nigeria, while the leadership crisis is sorted out in court.

Let the leadership factions deploy 100% of their energy toward rectifying the legal standing of ISPON. Once legitimacy is truly restored, a single, legally recognized entity can cleanly collect what is due.

Until then, not a single kobo should be paid to fund a house divided against itself.

Let us save the soul of the profession first; the commercialization can wait.

NB: Register to attend AfriSAFE 2026 – Africa Safety Congress & Awards, Accra, Ghana, on November 5–6, 2026.

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