Top executives, Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability experts, non-government organisations and other stakeholders, will gather on Thursday, March 16, 2017 in Lagos, for an interactive session on how corporate governance can engender value and growth in a rapidly changing global world.
The event with the theme: ‘Sustainability and Corporate Governance: Building Long Term Value,’ jointly organized by GRI, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Ernst & Young (EY), will update participants on the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, besides helping to understand the imperative of assurance on data quality and integrity and much more.

Keynote speakers at the event include: Ms Tinuade Awe, General Counsel and Head of Regulation, NSE; Douglas Kativu, Director, GRI; and Joseph Owolabi, West Africa Lead, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, EY.
The event will also feature two panel discussions, the first of which will discuss “corporate governance and disclosure for companies and investors.”
The panelists are: Chinyere Almona, Africa Corporate Governance Programme Manager, IFC (International Finance Corporation) Nigeria, Godstime Iwenekhai, Acting Head,
Listings Regulation, NSE; Dr. Nechi Ezeako, Executive Director, IoD Center for Corporate Governance; Lucy Newman, Financial Institutions Training Center (FITC); and Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, Head Sustainability, Access Bank.
The second panel comprising Joseph Owolabi, West Africa Lead, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, EY; Emilia-Asim Ita, Senior Consultant, Strategy & External Relations, Thistle Praxis Consulting; Dr. Ijeoma Nwagwu, Head, Sustainability Centre, Lagos Business School; and Bekeme Masade, Executive Director, CSR in Action; will examine Capacity building for ESG Disclosure.
Commenting on the event, Henry Egbiki, EY Country Leader, said “sustainability reporting in business is no longer an option but a fundamental component of good corporate governance in business. For us at EY, sustainability reporting has been a central area of focus as it aligns perfectly with our purpose of ‘Building a better-working world’.

“Our Global CEO and Chairman (Mark Weinberger) has taken a strategic position on it by joining the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s Board,” he added.
Oscar Onyema, chief executive of the NSE expressed delight at the “increasing level of awareness and compliance with corporate governance and sustainability guidelines in our market. As a key member of Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative, we will continue to leverage our unique position and partner other institutions to raise the standards of corporate governance and sustainability in Nigeria.”
Also commenting on the importance of the event, Kativu said, “society needs information to act upon, and companies require information that assists them in designing appropriate measures aimed at identifying, avoiding, mitigating and remedying negative impacts.
“Transparency has the power to transform corporate practices, enabling organizations to measure and manage their impacts on a wide range of sustainability issues. Reporting is a transformative tool to empower decision making”
This third collaboration between NSE, GRI and EY with the maiden edition held in November 2015, followed up with a sustainability training in June last year.