Welcome to the Founding and Governing Code of Ethics of The Publiks Group, a division of The Alvan Ikoku Group LLC (the “Code of Ethics” and the “Ethics”), which shall ethically guide, inform and govern any and all your activity with, within, for, on behalf of, in relation to or otherwise pertaining to Publiks.

Please take the time to read the Code of Ethics below carefully.

— With respect to the Agreement you enter into with Publiks via the Code of Ethics, you understand and adhere to the following:

And furthermore, by using or visiting, in any way, Publiks, any area, part, section or properties of Publiks, any area, part, section or properties of its divisions, series, subsidiaries or affiliates, as well as any of the Products or Services, including the Sites, you accept and agree to the terms, conditions and requirements described above, and in these Codes and Policies, in its entirety without modification.

— With respect to your ability to agree and consent to the Code of Ethics, you represent and warrant the following:

And furthermore, by using or visiting, in any way, Publiks, any area, part, section or properties of Publiks, any area, part, section or properties of its divisions, series, subsidiaries or affiliates, as well as any of the Products and Services, including the Sites, you accept and agree that your consent meets the conditions, principles and requirements for consent, as delineated and described in these Codes and Policies — for the specific purpose of consenting to this Policy, the Agreement and the Codes and Policies.

— You represent, warrant and covenant that, given the above attestation about your consent to the Code of Ethics, you have read, understood, consented to and agreed to be legally bound by and abide by the Code of Ethics and the Codes and Policies, as they are amended from time to time, and in its entirety without modification.

— You represent, warrant and covenant that, given the above attestation about your consent and adherence to the Code of Ethics, you have also read, understood, consented to and agreed to be legally bound by and abide by understandings of ethics as defined in all applicable guidelines, law and regulation, by Publiks in the Codes and Polices, and as specifically delineated below, which expressly emphasize provisions for the most rigorous and robust conceptions of dignity, humanity, independence and respect, and the most rigorous and robust protections for privacy, confidentiality, civil liberties and minority rights.

— You also represent, warrant and covenant that, given the aforementioned, your commitment to this understanding of ethics shall entail its basis for any activity you engage in with respect to Publiks — including its series, subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as the Products and Services — and that any such actions and decisions you engage in shall be free of any incompatibility with, inconsistency with or violation of this Code of Ethics.

Publiks strongly recommend you develop and maintain your knowledge of all the Codes and Policies, and so ask that you read, understand and regularly visit this page and other communications regarding the Founding Code of Ethics, as well as the Codes and Policies. Publiks take your continued visiting and use of its Products and Services, including the Sites, as active indication of your knowledge, understanding, legally binding acceptance and agreement.

To protect the company and division integrity of Publiks — as well as the properties, rights and protections of the corporation, division and its official persons — Publiks require all natural and legal persons concerned to read, understand, abide by and, where applicable, sign contracts and agreements delineated and described in the Policy on Company and Division Integrity.

Publiks remind you that the Policy on Company Integrity forms part of The Publiks User Agreement and Code of Conduct. Thus, Publiks take your continued visiting and use of its Products and Services, including the Sites, as active indication of your legally binding acceptance of this Policy as well as the Codes and Policies.

Please contact policies@policies.org with any feedback, issues or questions — which will be addressed by the President, CEO and Chair, Alvan Azinna Ikoku.

If you detect, notice or are informed of a possible breach or violation of this Policy or any of these Codes and Policies, please contact policies@policies.org with any details you have — which will be addressed by the President, CEO and Chair, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku.

As with all official documents, materials, policies and statements of Publiks, definitions for terms used here can be found in the main Codes and Policies page. Please do continue with the Code of Ethics via further reading below.

Along with the above key principles, the Code of Ethics requires your adherence to correlative requirements delineated below:

Mission.To carry out the founding mission and purposes of Publiks in pursuit of private and public interest. To have all activities and operations support the mission and purposes. To have all who work for or on behalf of Publiks understand and be loyal to said mission and purposes. And to have the mission and purposes be responsive to the communities served by Publiks and be of value to the society at large.

Integrity. To act with integrity in all activities within, with and with respect to Publiks. To ensure the organizational integrity of Publiks. And to promote at any official work for Publiks a working environment that values integrity.

Respect. To hold the fullest and most humane understanding of respect for persons to be essential to the formation, management, and operations of Publiks. To treat people of Publiks as individual persons and human beings fully enjoying respect and its substantive ethical benefits, including autonomy, dignity, humanity, integrity, and reciprocity. To also have the communities of Publiks — particularly those they help create, develop, foster, and support — emanate from and be informed by the above understanding of respect.

Governance. To have an active governing structure that is responsible for setting the strategic directions of Publiks as well as oversight of its finances, operations, and policies.

Responsible Stewardship. To manage all assets and properties of Publiks both responsibly and prudently — as described in the Founder’s Operating Agreement of The Alvan Ikoku Group LLC, and in fiduciary duties delineated in the constituting and governance documents of Publiks and its divisions, series, subsidiaries, and affiliates. And to also guide the official persons and communities of Publiks in accordance with this Founding and Governing Code of Ethics.

Independence. To hold independence to be crucial to the fulfillment of the founding mission and purposes of Publiks. And to have independence be central to the development, role, and understanding of private and public benefit commerce to be shared by Publiks and its divisions, series, subsidiaries, and affiliates.

Nongovernmental, Nonpartisan, Nonpolitical, Nonreligious, Private. To hold the nongovernmental, nonpartisan, nonpolitical, nonreligious and private nature and status of Publiks to be essential to fulfilling the founding mission and purposes of Publiks. To have such nature and status be a central basis for efforts to promote the private and public interest across the complex affiliations, associations, states, and nations that constitute Africa, its global diasporas, and its connected or shared societies in which the communities of Publiks reside.

Confidentiality and Privacy. To foreground the most robust protections of confidentiality and privacy as central inspirations for the formation of Publiks. To consider the confidentiality and privacy of personal biospecimens, data, and information as basic, civil and fundamental rights, and to further consider the privacy of personal life, including but not limited to aspects of life pertaining to body, conversation, home, mind, and thought, as absolute basic, fundamental and natural freedoms, liberties, and rights — all of which are to be guaranteed, safeguarded as well as essential to the fulfillment of the founding mission and purposes of Publiks.

Ethics, Freedoms, Liberties. To take as centrally important the practice of ethics as the examination and analysis of how to determine and do good. To also hold as centrally important the recognition and safeguarding of autonomy, dignity, humanity, and respect as well as the basic, fundamental and natural freedoms, liberties, and rights accorded to all human beings. And to furthermore hold the robust protection of minority rights to be essential to the fulfillment of the founding mission and purposes of Publiks.

Reasonable Transparency. To also provide, where required, reasonable and timely information to the communities served by Publiks. To be responsive in a timely manner to reasonable requests for information. And to have such published information accurately and honestly reflect policies and practices. Solicitation materials and financial, organizational and program reports will be accurate and complete in all required respects.

Inclusiveness and Diversity. To maintain a founding policy of promoting inclusiveness and diversity in the working environments and communities of Publiks. To take genuine and meaningful steps to promote inclusion in recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention, and in the communities to be reached, served and benefitted by Publiks.

Program Evaluation. To regularly and respectfully review program effectiveness, to develop lawful, respectful, and previously and expressly consented mechanisms to do so, and to in this manner incorporate lessons learned into existing and future programs.

Informed, Consented and Ethical Research and Care. To associate with, engage in and support only activities that meet the most robust definitions of informed, consented and ethical research and care. And to have Publiks associate with, engage in, and support only care, research, and equivalent work that abide by the most humane and most respectful interpretations of the Belmont Report, the Declaration of Helsinki, the Nuremberg Code, the United Nations Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights, and applicable guidelines, laws and regulation.

Legal Compliance. To remain knowledgeable of and comply with all applicable laws, regulations and international conventions, subject to full access to and benefit of legal, financial and other professional counsel that is not compromised by the efforts of any individual or entity, private, governmental or otherwise.

Accessibility — To endeavor that the communities Publiks benefits, fosters, reaches, and serves become available to all who abide by this Code of Ethics, regardless of disability, and notions of human, cultural and social difference.

Duty to Report and Inform. To ensure that the work of Publiks reflect its founding mission and purposes by honorably carrying out a duty to promptly report and fully inform the Founder, Alvan Azinna Chibuzo Ikoku, of any departure from or violation of the founding mission or purposes, Code of Ethics, Codes and Policies, or equivalent codes, policies, or instruments of Publiks.

No Conflict or Inconsistency — Finally, under no circumstances shall any action, activity, decision, operations, or resolution of or with Publiks, including any conducted while meeting any fiduciary duties or standards of care or conduct, be inconsistent with or come into conflict with the following:

And furthermore, by using or visiting, in any way, Publiks, any part or section of Publiks, any part or section of its divisions, series, subsidiaries or affiliates, as well as any part or section of the Products or Services, you accept and agree to the terms, conditions and requirements described above, in the Code of Ethics, and in these Codes and Policies, in its entirety without modification.

Please send any questions or concerns you may have concerning the Founding and Governing Code of Ethics to policies@publiks.org.