Corporate governance compliance and its effectiveness in the Nigerian banking industry

Abstract

This paper examines the extent of compliance to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 2006 Corporate Governance Code by 24 Nigerian commercial banks and reveals a compliance level of 76.6%. The major non-compliance areas include non-constitution of a board committee consisting of non-executive directors, that regulates the compensation for executive directors, and the non-inclusion of independent directors on the main boards of many banks. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the benefits resulting from the changes for compliance outweigh the additional layers of supervisory checks and bureaucratic overbearing associated with the Code. The Code has brought about more effective corporate governance, accountability and greater transparency despite a low frequency of supervision and examination of the banks by the CBN.