An Analysis of Corporate Governance in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

When the term ‘corporate governance’ is mentioned, two things come to the fore, ‘corporations’ and ‘governance’. It follows therefore that corporate governance simply refers to the way an organization governs itself. The importance of corporate governance in any corporate entity or any economy cannot be over emphasized considering the principles it promotes, such as accountability, transparency and fairness. The unexpected collapse of prominent companies like WorldCom and Enron led many developed countries to pay better attention to corporate governance. Regulators established codes of governance which were to serve as a guide to corporate behavior. This paper examines the history of corporate governance in Nigeria, alongside the effort she is making to develop a corporate governance framework that will stand the test of time considering the recent issuance of the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance 2018. This paper will also consider the issues which corporate governance framework faces in Nigeria which range from institutional challenges, corruption, poor corporate governance culture, multiplicity of codes on corporate governance and weak regulatory mechanisms to protection of whistle blowers to ascertain if the main challenge of our corporate governance framework is actually inadequacy of laws or ineffective implementation of recommendations by the codes. The findings in this paper reveal the viability of Nigeria’s corporate laws and codes on corporate governance and concludes that the challenges that come with the practicability of corporate governance in Nigeria require the combatting of corruption, effective implementation of the recommendations of the codes, effective monitoring by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  of business practices by entities and lastly, the protection of whistle blowers stating in passing the framework of the United Kingdom. Read More…

Join an online course that makes it easy for you to get A’s in your law exams, you can check it out here: Get Access to Ace LL.B Exams.