Abstract

In 2013, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in partnership with the Convention on Business Integrity, piloted a Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) for Nigeria. A corporate governance rating is a means of assessing a company’s corporate governance system by examining and evaluating an entity’s corporate governance procedures and practices. After the pilot’s conclusion, a qualitative evaluation of the pilot was conducted through a survey of the companies that had participated in the pilot as well as other stakeholders. The evaluation was done to determine whether the CGRS as piloted had been useful to improve the corporate governance practices and policies of participating companies and whether the participants and stakeholders in the CGRS believed that the CGRS would in the long term contribute to improving corporate governance in Nigeria. The evaluation also sought to identify the main challenges and drawbacks of the CGRS as piloted. This article presents the findings of this evaluation and the lessons drawn from the pilot, and further considers whether the CGRS will be suitable for other African countries that may want to adopt a corporate governance rating system.