InfraCredit’s Anti-bribery Management System Certified ISO 37001 Compliant by Lloyd’s Register

Oluchi Chibuzor

InfraCredit, an ‘AAA’ rated specialised infrastructure credit guarantee institution, backed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (“NSIA”), Private Infrastructure Development Group companies GuarantCo and InfraCo Africa, KfW Development Bank, Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC”) and African Development Bank, has announced that its Anti-Bribery Management System has been certified as ISO 37001 compliant by Lloyd’s Register.

The company in a statement said securing the recognition reflects the robustness of its Compliance and Anti-bribery Program, “and further demonstrates InfraCredit commitment to upholding the highest international anti-bribery standards across our business and in a challenging frontier market in which we operate. The certification comes after a rigorous auditing process undertaken by the leading global assurance independent body, Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), the world’s leading provider of independent assessment services. The audit involved examining our anti-bribery practices, including reporting procedures and transaction cycle, to ensure appropriate measures to prevent bribery have been implemented across our entire business.

“ISO 37001 is the gold standard in anti-bribery measures with globally stringent audit system. Developed by 59 countries to address the global threat to sustainable development posed by bribery, the ISO 37001 certification was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2016, recognizing companies with well-implemented systems designed to prevent, detect, report and deal with bribery across their business practices. The average Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (2022) score across sub-Saharan Africa is just 32/100, 11 points below the global average – 43/100. The specific challenges of combating bribery in sub-Saharan Africa makes InfraCredit’s ISO 37001 certification very significant.”

Its CEO, Chinua Azubike in the statement said, “As one of the very few African companies to achieve the status, InfraCredit is leading the way in tackling the challenges posed by bribery to infrastructure project development in Nigeria. As we endeavour to maximize our development impact and to ensure transparency around the use of proceeds on our guaranteed projects and capital investments, we take any allegations of corruption extremely seriously. In facilitating sustainable and inclusive infrastructure development in critical economic sectors in Nigeria, we adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards bribery and corruption in all its forms”.