CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – SEC TO LAUNCH SCORECARD FOR PUBLIC QUAOTED COMPANIES

With a goal to boost investor confidence and deepen corporate governance practices in Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to release a landmark Corporate Governance Scorecard for listed companies in the country.

This will be the first of its kind within Nigeria’s financial system according to Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, the Acting Director General of SEC who hosted members of the Institute of Directors (IoD)Centre for Corporate Governance at his office in Abuja. The Corporate Governance Scorecard will assess the level of compliance with the SEC Code of Corporate governance by Nigeria’s public companies on an annual basis.

Mr. Gwarzo stressed the importance of corporate governance to the SEC and reeled out various initiatives by the apex regulator to strengthen corporate governance practices in Nigeria. “Corporate governance is very close to our heart as an institution. Internally we hold ourselves to the highest governance standards with our Board members submitting themselves to annual evaluations on corporate governance. In addition, we require all market operators to have competent compliance officers as a precondition for operating in the capital market”.

Last year, the SEC intervened to resolve a corporate governance crisis at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), taking a leading role in strengthening the institution and Mr. Gwarzo believes that the Commission will continue to play similar roles. “The SEC has the widest coverage when it comes to corporate governance covering all publicly listed companies and capital market operators. We should therefore be the reference point on corporate governance”, Mr. Gwarzo said.