Photo Caption: From left, Ms Tinuade Awe, Executive Director, Regulation, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Soji Apampa, Chief Executive Officer, Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) and Cynthia Akpomudiare, Director, Convention on Business Integrity (CBiI) during a press briefing on the 33 Companies, 435 Directors pass Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) at the Exchange today.

Eight companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), including Dangote Cement, the biggest company by market capitalization, Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa, successfully retained their corporate governance rating which they attained during the pilot test in November 2014.
The others are: Access Bank, Diamond Bank, FBN Holdings Plc, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, and NAHCO Aviance.
Twenty-five others, according to a statement by the organisers, successfully scaled the test, having scored the required pass mark of 70%; while another 87 are at various stages of completion of the process.
Presentation the awards and certificates to Chair persons of successful companies and directors is slated for February 2018.
The CGRS was introduced into the Nigerian Capital Market in 2012 and launched in 2014 after a successful pilot some volunteer companies, including those now listed on the NSE’s Premium Board.
“The process comprises three segments: an independently verified, self-assessment by the company; a certification of director awareness of their fiduciary duties; and, a corporate integrity assessment where perceptions of actual company behaviour are sought from internal and external stakeholders.
“Combinations of the three segments with attendant weighted scores are collated and companies with a score of 70% and above will be accorded the CGRS certification mark celebrating the degree to which they have evolved the quality of their corporate governance,” the organisers explained.
The statement quoted Chairman of the Steering Board and Executive Director, Regulation, NSE, Ms. Tinuade Awe as recalling that “the period between 2000 and 2010 were difficult years for business around the world, littered with major corporate failures due to corruption and poor corporate governance, as well as financial crises that shook many economies. Companies have since then been evolving their ability to improve board structure and responsibility; business ethics and anti-corruption; transparency and disclosure; internal and external audit and control; and, better protect stakeholder and shareholder rights.
“Nigerian companies have not been left out of this evolution where better business leadership and performance is expected to lead to improvements and growth in the Nigerian economy as a whole,” she added.
Mr. Soji Apampa, Chief Executive Officer, The Convention on Business Integrity (CBi) that partnered the NSE to design, pilot, roll-out and manage the initiative, explained that “the success rate and increased participation in the CGRS initiative is a testament to the rising acclaim that corporate governance is receiving in corporate Nigeria. It is important to celebrate companies and directors who are leading the renewed charge whilst encouraging others to participate. We continue to celebrate companies where we notice that corporate governance is evolving nicely.”
For Oscar Onyema, chief executive of the NSE, “as we make surefooted steps to globalise our market, the CGRS rating will bolster the confidence to invest in our market especially from international investors. Increasingly, our listed companies are meeting their compliance and requirements and we will continue to protect investors in our market through a robust regulatory regime.”
Besides Awe and Apampa, other members of the CGRS Steering Board are: Ms. Olubukanla Rufai, representing the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC); Wole Famurewa of CNBC Africa; Ms. Vivien Shobo, Agusto & Co.; and Ms. Cynthia Akpomudiare, Project Director, CGRS.