The Governance Pillar in Nigeria: What Board Independence, Remuneration and Audit Quality Actually Signal to Investors

For most of the past decade, the “G” in ESG has been the quiet pillar of corporate governance in Nigeria — assumed to be handled by the company secretary and the legal team while environmental and social commitments took the spotlight. That assumption is now expensive. As Nigeria progresses toward mandatory ISSB-aligned sustainability reporting under the FRCN roadmap — with IFRS S1 and S2 adopted by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) — governance has become the pillar that decides whether the other two are believed at all. Many institutional investors begin their assessment with governance rather than with carbon intensity or community spend — with the board itself: is it independent, is it paid sensibly, and does it sit above an audit function that can...