The Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) Nigeria has declared public-sector governance a “first-order national emergency”, warning that the country’s 142nd ranking out of 182 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is constraining investment inflows and weakening national competitiveness.
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Presenting the Institute’s first ‘Governance Health Check of the Nation’ report yesterday at its Bi-Annual State of Corporate Governance Press Conference, the President and Chairman of the Governing Council of CIoD Nigeria, Adetunji Oyebanji, said the country’s challenge was not the absence of governance frameworks but weak implementation, enforcement and accountability.
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Nigeria ranked 142nd out of 182 countries with a score of 26 out of 100 on the CPI.

Oyebanji said the position carried both reputational and economic consequences, directly limiting the country’s ability to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio capital.
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“Our rules are world-class; our execution is subpar. If we want to build truly resilient institutions and enhance Nigeria’s global competitiveness, we must bridge this execution gap immediately,” he said.
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The Institute said weak governance and fragile oversight mechanisms continue to undermine institutional effectiveness and economic performance, citing an April 2026 International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on budget credibility in Sub-Saharan Africa, which identified governance and oversight weaknesses as significant contributors to severe budget execution gaps in Nigeria.
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The Institute also identified state-owned enterprises as a major governance concern, noting that many suffer from chronic fiscal opacity and heavily under-resourced internal audit functions.
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“Our greatest challenge has never been the absence of policies; it has been the consistency of implementation, the strength of enforcement, and the collective commitment to accountability,” he said.
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Beyond the public sector, the Institute raised concerns over governance practices within corporate organisations. It noted that board evaluations have increasingly become administrative exercises rather than effective accountability tools, citing data which showed that 55 per cent of directors believe at least one fellow board member should be replaced due to inadequate competence or contribution, even as boards continue to resist individual peer evaluations.
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“We are protecting mediocrity at the expense of corporate longevity,” the report said, highlighting regulatory compliance challenges facing businesses while warning that companies are being forced to navigate overlapping governance requirements issued by agencies including the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
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CIoD said the overlapping requirements were increasing compliance burdens and called for the establishment of a regulatory harmonisation mechanism to reduce friction and lower the cost of doing business.
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The institute further disclosed that 32 listed firms were fined a cumulative N562.6 million for financial filing lapses during the first half of 2026, underscoring ongoing compliance concerns within the corporate sector.
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On family-owned businesses, the report stated that 70 per cent of African family businesses fail before reaching the second generation, while heavy founder dependence remains a major threat to business continuity.

It added that about 96 per cent of Nigerian businesses are small and medium enterprises or family-owned enterprises.