Abuja: The Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) Nigeria has called for urgent governance reforms across the public sector and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to support Nigeria’s one trillion-dollar economy ambition. The institute made the call in a position paper obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, CIoD’s Director-General, Dr. Taiwo Nolas-Alausa, identified governance lapses as a significant threat to economic development, investor confidence, and effective public service delivery. Corruption, procurement fraud, weak board oversight, fiscal opacity, and a culture of impunity were cited as ongoing issues undermining national development.
Nolas-Alausa emphasized the need for governance reform to be treated as a national priority requiring immediate action by governments, legislatures, and regulatory agencies. He highlighted that the challenge in Nigeria is not the absence of governance laws but the weak implementation and enforcement of existing frameworks, despite the presence of legislation such as the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance (2018), Fiscal Responsibility Act, Public Procurement Act, EFCC Act, and ICPC Act.
The director-general pointed out several governance failures, including politically influenced board appointments, procurement corruption, fiscal opacity, weak internal controls, and ineffective enforcement. He noted that many SOE boards lack independence as appointments are often not based on transparent merit. Additionally, contract splitting, politically influenced procurement, and weak contract management persist despite existing procurement laws.
Nolas-Alausa also noted the failure of many SOEs to publish audited financial statements within statutory timelines, limiting transparency and effective oversight. He highlighted that internal audit and risk management units across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and SOEs remain under-resourced and insufficiently independent, with governance violations frequently going unpunished, weakening accountability across public institutions.
He referenced Nigeria’s ranking of 142nd out of 182 countries, scoring 26 out of 100 in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, and cited a 2026 International Monetary Fund report linking weak governance and oversight mechanisms to poor budget implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The proposed Nigerian Public Sector Governance Code was described by Nolas-Alausa as a critical opportunity to strengthen governance across MDAs and SOEs. He urged the Federal Government to finalize and implement the code with mandatory compliance, enforceable sanctions, and periodic governance assessments. He also recommended transparent, merit-based appointments to SOE boards and comprehensive whistleblower protection legislation.
The CIoD director-general further advocated for real-time public budget reporting, greater disclosure of government contracts, and accelerated governance reforms in state-owned enterprises operating in infrastructure, energy, transportation, and finance, to improve efficiency and attract private investment into strategic sectors.
He suggested the publication of audited annual reports within six months after each financial year, stronger internal audit systems, continuous governance training, and greater representation of independent non-executive directors on public sector boards. He also urged governance advocacy organizations to develop an annual Nigerian Public Sector Governance Scorecard for ministries and SOEs and called for expanded director certification programs with specialized public sector governance modules.
Nolas-Alausa reaffirmed CIoD’s commitment to working with government, regulators, lawmakers, the private sector, and civil society on governance reforms, emphasizing that “transparent institutions, accountable leadership, and efficient public resource management are indispensable for achieving sustainable economic growth and Nigeria’s one trillion-dollar economy target.”