Nigerian companies may begin to face capital raising risks if they do not adopt a sustainability reporting culture.

This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer, NGX Regulation Limited, Ms Tinuade Awe during a panel discussion at the ongoing 2023 MTN Capital Markets Day.

According to Awe, “Companies cannot afford to approach sustainability with a ticking box approach, it has to be ingrained in your DNA.

Following the launch of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards with the Financial Reporting Council and ISSB in June, we have been getting comments from issuers around what the potential costs among other implications could be.

“We completely understand that this could be a burden but we advise companies to acknowledge this burden and proportionally pace their progress, rather than doing nothing. It should be approached from a longer term perspective and incorporated into their strategy.”

The CEO noted that NGX RegCo is currently creating awareness and working with stakeholders on capacity building to help issuers cope with the changing landscape.

“We recently collaborated with the Society for Corporate Governance on a survey to understand the readiness of these companies and their thoughts. We have seen considerable response and taken that feedback accordingly,”

She advised businesses to take sustainability reporting seriously regardless of their size, noting that the long term benefits outweigh the short term costs of compliance.