Olowo: Sustainability Reporting, Practices Will Boost Economy, Wellbeing of Nigerians

*FRC, NIRC sign agreement to enhance advocacy seamless implementation, others

James Emejo in Abuja

Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of Nigeria, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, yesterday, said sustainability reporting and practice could help the country to unlock foreign capital inflows, attract investments as well as improve the well-being of Nigerians.
He said given that only three per cent of climate finance finds its way to Africa, adopting sustainability practices could improve inflows, impact businesses and benefit the common man among others.

Olowu spoke as the FRC and Nigeria Integrated Reporting Committee (NIRC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost advocacy and capacity development towards the seamless implementation of Sustainability Reporting Standards in the country.
He said with the country’s adoption of the new reporting templates, a lot of work had been done by the Adoption Readiness Group –with roadmap for Nigerian corporates to follow from 2024 and 2028 when the standard becomes mandatory.
The FRC boss described the partnership as one of the critical steps the council is taking towards ensuring effective and seamless implementation of sustainability reporting in the country.

He said, “This could not have come at better time considering the fact that the roadmap report for the adoption of the IFRS S1 and S2 will be launched on March 22, 2024 just precisely in two weeks during the visit of Mr. Emmanuel Faber, Chair, ISSB and his team to Nigeria as part of his three nation African tour.
“As you are all aware, Nigeria, through our council, took a bold step by declaring her intent to early adopt the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards at CoP 27 in Egypt in 2022.
“We followed our declaration by setting up the Adoption Readiness Working Group (ARWG), hosted the launch of IFRS S1 and S2 in collaboration with the NGX Regulations Limited on June 26, 2023, and issued the Roadmap report for comments on February 1, 2024 with closing date for comments on March 14, 2024 just six days away.”

Olowo emphasised that the collaboration further demonstrated the council’s commitment to ensure adequate and comprehensive advocacy to herald effective corporate behavioural change that will drive the sustainability reporting in Nigeria.
He said, “In line with statutory provision of the FRC Act 2011 as amended, that empowers the Council to enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards the achievement of her mandate, we could not have gotten a better partner for our advocacy drive than the Nigeria Integrated Reporting Committee (NIRC), an independent forerunner in the corporate reporting journey.”

He said the FRC is playing a critical part in the actualisation of President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda driven through Digitisation, Operational Excellence, Stakeholders Engagement and Enforcement (DOSE).
He said, “This will take FRC to greater heights and unlock capital for the country, which in turn, will create employment. This event today is part of the stakeholder’s engagement and there is going to be more of it.

“I am delighted to note the commitment of the members of ARWG who diligently made lots of sacrifices to ensure that Nigeria became a good reference point globally on the adoption of sustainability reporting.
“We are indeed grateful for your efforts, which we believe will be further required in this journey. It is through collaboration and shared knowledge that we can drive meaningful change and create a more reliable financial report.”

He told THISDAY, “The question is what are we going to do between now and then? There’s a need for advocacy training so that accountants or all those who contribute to financial reporting understand and appreciate, and that’s why we’ve gone into partnership with NIRC so they can help with the advocacy and capacity building for the adoption to be seamless.”

On his part, Chairman, NIRC, Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, said embracing sustainability reporting means it’s no longer business as usual for entities in Nigeria, adding that more than profit making, priority would be given to the environment, people and the planet.

He said, “With the MoU, the NIRC will support FRC in advocacy, capacity building, in reaching out to relevant stakeholders and organisations including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to ensure that we gather resources enough to implement sustainability reporting in Nigeria.

“And like we said, it’s not just about reporting, it’s about integrated thinking, it’s about a change in behaviour as it’s not business as usual because you now think about people, planet and profit. It is not just about profit alone but you also think about the environment and human beings.”