The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has restated the need for business owners in the country to embrace corporate governance as a desirable option. The Acting Director-General of SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, in a statement, said that this would help grow their enterprises, improve shareholders’ funds and improve profitability on a sustainable basis.
Uduk said this at the maiden lecture and book presentation organised by Alliance Law Firm with the theme “Contemporary Corporate Governance Issues in Nigeria”.
Uduk, represented by a Director at the commission, Mr. Edward Okolo, noted that experiences globally demonstrated that enterprises that showed commitment to corporate governance principles perform better.
She said that those enterprises had also continued to enjoy investors and other stakeholders’ confidence in building their brands.
According to her, the level of compliance to corporate governance code in the country has remained low.
The SEC boss expressed dismay that access to critical indices by which companies’ compliance with the SEC Code could be measured had also remained difficult.
This, she said, was due to the fact that many companies were either unwilling to comply or lacked understanding of the importance of corporate governance to their entities’ survival and profitability.
Uduk explained that this also remained linked to the issue of independent directors.
Earlier, Mr Dotun Sulaiman, the Chairman, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), said that the council was embarking on some initiatives.
Such initiatives, he said, would improve corporate governance as it relates to financial reporting to make them more investor-friendly.
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