Part 1: Moderating Effect Of Firm Size On Shareholding Structures And Financial Performance Of Qouted Commercial Banks In Nigeria- By Wada Moses and Edogbanya, Adejoh Ph.D.


Moseswada1@gmail.com and adejoh17@yahoo.com.

Abstract


Many shareholding structures studies in developed countries have established links between corporate governance and firm performance. However, in developing countries like Nigeria, very little attention has been given to complete disclosure of shareholding structure in relation to firm performance. It is against this background that this study examines the moderating effect of firm size on the relationship between shareholding structure and firm performance. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the direct effect of block-holder ownership on return on assets, and to find the moderating effect firm size on the relationship between block-holder ownership and return on assets. The multiple regression analysis was carried out with aid of robust panel regression using two-models. The findings model I showed that block-holder ownership has an insignificant negative effect on firm performance, while, Model II showed that firm size significantly moderates the relationship between block-holder ownership and firm performance. The study recommends reduced block-holder ownership for improved firm performance among Nigerian quoted commercial banks.
Keywords: Block-shareholding, Financial Performance, Firm Size, Return on Assets, Moderating
Variable.

1 Introduction


Ownership structure is an aspect of corporate governance that is concerned with how the basic units (shares) of an entity are owned and it is extensively seen to be determined by a country’s specific corporate governance characteristics. A firm’s ownership structure is composed of investors, financial institutions, mutual funds, international firms, block-holders, family members and managers. Holderness (2009) points out that ownership structure is one of the most important factors in shaping the corporate governance system of any country. According to him, it determines the nature of the agency problem, which is whether the dominant conflict is between managers and shareholders, or between controlling and minority shareholders, adding that the degree of ownership concentration in a firm determines how power is distributed between its shareholders and managers. When ownership is dispersed, shareholding control tends to be weak because, a small shareholder is unlikely to be interested in monitoring because a large portion on his smaller benefits will go to settle the cost of monitoring (Ohiani, 2018).

The financial performance of many organizations has been largely linked to their ownership structure over time as it provides funding through owner’s equity. The Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance (2018) section 23.1.5 requires that the board of directors must ensure that all shareholders understand the ownership structure of the company, and support them in this by making available, current information on the ultimate beneficial owners of the major shareholdings or any shareholders owning, controlling or influencing five percent (5%) or more of the Company’s shares. Normally, every business organization has the responsibility of making returns for the owners. This is important since the ability of a firm to make returns in the competitive market determines to a large extend its ability to survive in the future. A bank’s ownership structure influences its performance because differences in ownership type: concentration, diversity and resource endowments among shareholders determine their incentives and ability to monitor bank managers.

In Nigeria, the 2000–2010 banking reform led to bank mergers, acquisition and consolidation activities intended to strengthen the banking sector and these activities led to significant changes in bank ownership to permit various ownership systems including wealthy families and rich individuals, institutional, managerial or insider ownership and foreign interests in an attempt to reduce government’s control of banks. This liberal policy consequently resulted in a greater number of individual shareholders with large direct equity holding in Nigerian banks. Moreover, large direct equity ownership by controlling shareholders can have serious consequences for bank profitability depending on whether controlling shareholders have private control benefits or whether there are shared controls benefits that accrue to both controlling and non-controlling owners and this effect also depend on the levels of ownership concentration in Nigerian banks (Ozili et al, 2017). Ownerships should be expanded to include directors, managers, employees, and even customers and suppliers.

Block-holder ownership also called concentrated ownership refers to shareholding with an exceptionally large amount or value of stock. Even though there was no specific definition of how many shares constitute a block, most people using the term refer to holding more than 5% of shares. A major aspect of ownership structure is related to how concentrated the company’s shares are. A company’s ownership is said to be concentrated if a high percentage of shares is in the possession of relatively small number of owners (Citak, 2011) and it is measured a percentage of equity held by block-holders as investors in the firm. The block-holder ownership is said to be concentrated if the majority of the stocks are owned by the minority of individuals or groups, so that the stockholders have more dominant stocks than the others. The important element of stock block ownership by external party is the stronger monitoring over the manager or insider so as to reduce the agency problem between management and stockholders.

The connection between ownership structure and performance has been the subject of an important and ongoing concern in the corporate finance literature as it is the key in determining control of firms. From available literature reviewed, there is no general agreement on the exact effect of ownership structure on business performance. Several Scholars including Ohiani et al, (2018) and Ogega (2014) maintain that ownership structure has a significant effect on firm performance. On the other hand, Aymen (2014) and Falzadal et al, (2011) reported that there is no significant effect of ownership structure on the performance of firms. This lack of consensus among scholars and the paucity of studies conducted that included a moderating variable on the effect of shareholding structure of financial performance necessitate this study.

The main objective of this study is to examine the moderating effect of firm size on shareholding structure and firm performance of the commercial banks listed in Nigeria, while the specific objectives are to:
i. examine effect of block-holder ownership on financial performance of quoted commercial banks Nigerian;
ii. explore the moderating effect of firm size on block-holder ownership and financial performance of quoted commercial banks Nigerian;
In order to achieve the stated objectives of this study, the following null hypotheses were developed:
i. Block-holder ownership has no significant effect on financial performance of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria
ii. There is no moderating effect of firm size on block holder ownership and financial performance of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria
2 Conceptual Review of the Study
The conceptual framework of this study shall be made of the independent variable (Ownership structure) represented by block-holder ownership, while, the dependent variable (financial performance) was proxied by return on asset (ROA).

Concept of Shareholding Structure
Abel and Okafor (2010) define shareholding structure as the percentage of share held by managers (managerial ownership), institutions (institutional ownership), government (state ownership), foreign investors (foreign ownership) and family (family ownership). Jensen et al, (1976), define ownership structure as the distribution of equity with regards to votes and capital as well as the identity of the equity owners. Bansal (2005) states that ownership structure as the committee of investors and shareholders (proprietors) is made up of individual peoples, groups and institutions who have different goals, interests, investment horizons and capabilities in a business.

The concept of ownership structure has been be defined by Kiruri (2013) along two perspectives, namely; ownership concentration which is referred to as the share of the largest owner and is influenced by absolute risk and monitoring costs and secondly, ownership mix while the latter is related to the identity of the major shareholder. Ownership structure is like the hard core of corporate governance composed of a firm’s owners who are those persons who share two formal rights: the right to control the firm and the right to appropriate the firm’s profits, or residual earnings which in theory, could be separated and held by different classes of persons Hansmann (2000).

Concept of Block-holder Ownership
Block-holder ownership also known as concentrated ownership is shareholding with an exceptionally large amount or value of stock. Block-holders is the aggregate fractional holdings of entities who hold more than five per cent of the firm’s shares (Aribaba et al. 2022). Large block-holders who have a strong incentive to closely monitor a firm, may acquire seats on the board, which enhances their ability to monitor effectively. Block-holder ownership refers to an ownership fraction or stake in a firm that is held by shareholders with the controlling interest or with large stake which affords the shareholders the motivation and ability to monitor and control management decisions. Block-holding shareholders use their large stake in reducing conflicts between managers and the organization by being more proactive in monitoring and protecting their investments. Ogabo (2021) claims that block-holders have a lot of funds to invest and exhibit strong fiduciary responsibilities, so they are eager to see their firms perform well. Also, they want to reduce free riders so they closely monitor since the possibility of exit could be expensive. The block-holders achieve concentrated control when they hold a large interest in the company and heavy voting rights, and so, they become involved with the operating decisions of the firm. For this study, block-holder ownership refers to the shareholders who hold controlling interest as a result of the large share they hold.

Concept of Financial Performance
Financial performance measures how well a firm uses its resources to make a profit and it is a vital tool to several stakeholders in a firm. Ogega (2014) points out that there are three major indicators used to measure financial performance of commercial banks. The first one is Return on Assets (ROA) which is a ratio of income to the total assets of the bank. ROA indicates the ability of the bank to realize return on its sources of fund to generate profits. Secondly, Return on Equity (ROE) is the net profit divided by shareholders’ equity and is expressed in percent. It indicates how efficient the bank is utilizing funds invested by the shareholder. Thirdly, Net Interest Margin (NIM) indicates the difference between interest income and interest expense as a percentage of total assets. which reflects the gap between the interest income the bank receives on loans and securities and interest cost of its borrowed funds (Khrawish, 2011).

2.2 Theoretical Review
This study is anchored on the agency theory propounded by Jensen and Meckling, (1976), which is based on the idea of separation of ownership (principal) and management (agent). This is the theory of anchorage because ownership structure and its effect on performance as studied in this work is the basis for separation of ownership and control by management which is the problem agency theory was formulated to solve. The theory holds that in the presence of information asymmetry, the agent is likely to pursue interest that may conflict with that of the principal. Since managers are said to favour perks of office and power even at the expense of shareholders’ interest, they are likely to pursue interests that may hurt their principals (the shareholders). The theory therefore suggests an optimal debt level that would arise as a result of agency cost. The theorists suggested a situation whereby the interest of the managers in the firm should increase in order to be aligning with the owners. The debt level should also be motivated to control managers’ tendency for extra consumption. Free cash flow in a firm can be controlled by increasing the managers’ stake in the firms or debt in the capital structure thereby reducing the amount of free cash available to managers. Agency theory is a theory that has been applied to many fields in the social and management sciences: politics, economics, sociology, management, marketing, accounting and administration. The agency theory is a neoclassical economic theory and is usually the starting point for any debate on the corporate governance.
2.3 Empirical Review
Etale and Yalah (2022) investigated the ownership structure and financial performance of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria for the period of 2011-2020. The specific objectives were to examine the effect of controlling (concentrated) ownership and non-controlling (dispersed) ownership on return on asset. The data were gathered from the published financial statements of consumer goods firms. The panel data were analyzed through the descriptive statistics; correlation analysis, panel regression and fixed and random effect regression. The result revealed that controlling ownership has positive and non-statistically significant with financial performance, while non-controlling ownership has positive and a significant relationship with financial performance of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria. The study recommended that firms listed under the sector should imbibe the corporate governance long run strategies to increase the organizational growth.

Aribaba et al. (2022) evaluated the effect of ownership structure on financial performance of quoted
building material firms in Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the effect of supervisory ownership, institutional ownership and ownership concentration on financial performance. The ex-post-facto type of qualitative research design was used. Four (4) firms were selected using purposive and random sampling techniques. The data were from secondary sources via annual published financial reports of building material firms for 2011 to 2020. The method of data analysis used were descriptive and ordinary least square regression statistics to measure the inference of the independent variables on the financial performance of the firms. The unit root stationarity test was used to measure the normality of the data. The study reveals that supervisory ownership showed a positive and significant effect on the financial performance, institutional ownership showed a positive and significant effect on the financial performance, while ownership concentration showed negative but significant effect on the financial. The study recommends that the Securities and Exchange Commission encourage more potential managers and institutional shareholders as both managers and institutional shareholders improve the financial performance of quoted building material firms in Nigeria.

Ogabo et al. (2021) examined the impact of ownership structure on firm performance of the Uni Kingdom’s FTSE 350 companies from the 2008-2018 fiscal years. The specific objectives were to explore the impact of managerial and institutional ownership on return on asset, return on equity, and Tobin’s Q as measures of performance. A panel data set of 48 companies with 432 observations was analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation matrix, and regression analysis. The results revealed that there is a significant positive impact of managerial ownership on firm performance without any entrenchment effect at managerial ownership above 5%. The regression results showed that the control variables of the percentage of independent directors on the board increase firms’ performance, while the percentage of women on the board as a control variable decreases firms’ performance. The study offers no recommendations.

Adamu and Haruna (2020) examined the relationship between ownership structure and performance of listed non-financial firms in Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study is to determine the relationship between managerial ownership, ownership concentration, foreign ownership, institutional ownership and Tobin q, return on assets, return on equities, and earnings per shares. Secondary data collected from forty (40) sampled firms. The data were analyzed using canonical correlation and the findings showed that managerial and foreign ownerships are the dominant ownership structures while Tobin q, EPS, and ROA are the dominant performance measures. The study also found that ownership concentration, foreign ownership, and institutional ownership are positively correlated with firm performance, while managerial ownership is negatively correlated with firm performance. The study recommended that listed non-financial firms should encourage foreign investments in their firms and rewards performing managers with shares in the firms.

Dakhlallh et al. (2019) attempt provide empirical evidence concerning the relationship between the ownership structure and firm performance of the shareholding companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The specific objectives of the study were to investigate the effect of institutional and block shareholders ownership on Tobin’s q. Firm performance was measured by using Tobin’s Q (TQ). This study also used a moderating variable which is board independence. The panel data were analysed by ordinary lest square multiple regression for a sample of 180 companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the period from 2009 to 2017. The findings show that the ownership structure mechanisms have a significant influence on firm performance measure by (TQ). So, institutional ownership shows a significant positive relationship with (TQ), however, the findings show block holders ownership have a significant negative relationship with (TQ). On another hand, the moderating effect of board independence has a significant positive effect on the relationship between block holders ownership and (TQ) and has a significant negative on the relationship between institutional ownership and (TQ). They recommend further researches that should examine the moderating or mediating influence of other variables on the relation between chosen variables and firm performance, such as audit committee mechanisms and that future researchers can also use different performance measure, such as ROA, ROE and market share.

Jinadu et al, (2018) investigate whether a significant relationship exists between ownership concentration and corporate performance of Nigerian multinational banks. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the impact of ownership concentration, foreign ownership and domestic ownership on corporate performance. The corporate annual reports for the periods 2010-2014 were utilised as the main source of secondary data. Interesting the research hypotheses, the study adopted the use of panel least square regression method to analyse the data collected from annual reports of the Nigerian multinational banks. Also, the study made use of correlational research design for testing the expected relationship between the variables. Findings revealed a significant negative relationship between ownership concentration and corporate performance of Nigerian multinational banks. In addition, an insignificant positive impact of foreign ownership on corporate performance exists. They also found a significant negative impact of domestic ownership on corporate performance. The study recommended that Nigerian multinational banks should reduce ownership concentration and domestic ownership in order to increase the level of corporate performance. In addition, foreign ownership should be encouraged as a result of its technical expertise and financial support that improve corporate performance.

Nguyen et al, (2015) investigate the impacts of ownership structure on bank performance in Vietnamese banking system using the data collected from the whole 44 banks in the banking system in Vietnam from 2010-2012. The specific objectives of the study were to ascertain the impacts of capital concentration and private ownership on bank profitability. Results show that capital concentration and private ownership have positive impact on bank profitability. Besides, the research results are also consistent with the previous researches (Nguyen, Tran & Pham, 2014) on the positive correlation of corporate governance and bank performance in Vietnam. The findings of this study are also relevant with the previous researches in Kenya, China, Malaysia (Wen, 2010, Rokwaro, 2013). From these findings, it was recommended that banks should encourage the large shareholders participation on the Board of Director to reduce the conflict of interest and the general agency problem in banks and promote private ownership to increase bank profitability.

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Part 3: Moderating Effect Of Big4 On Audit Committee Characteristics And Financial Performance Of Quoted Nigerian Industrial Goods Companies- By Emmanuel Huleji Daudu, Edogbanya, Adejoh Ph.D.

Test of Hypotheses


The decision rule here is that if the calculated p-value is lower than or equals to the critical value of 0.05, the null hypothesis formulated should be rejected or if the calculated p-value is higher than the critical p-value of 0.05, the hypothesis should be accepted.
Ho1 Audit Committee Diligence has no significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.
The decision rule is to reject the null hypothesis if the p. value is less than 0.05 or accept the null hypothesis if the p. value is greater than 0.05.
Table 9 Results of Analysis
Variable Coeff. Std. Err t. value p. value
Audit Committee
Diligence (ACD) 0.0462 0.0265 1.74 0.083
Table 9 above reveals that Audit Committee Diligence (ACD) has an insignificant (0.083) positive (1.74) effect on Return on Asset (ROA) which measures Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria from 2011-2020. Based on the decision rule, the null hypothesis One (Ho1) is accepted.

Ho2 Audit Committee Financial Expertise does not have significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.
The decision rule is to reject the null hypothesis if the p. value is less than 0.05 or accept the null hypothesis if the p. value is greater than 0.05.
Table 10 Results of Analysis
Variable Coeff. Std. Err t. value p. value
Audit Committee
Financial Expertise (ACD) -0.0052 0.0044 -1.17 0.212
Source: Table 4.5 above.
Table 4.3.2 above indicates that Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE) has an insignificant (0.212) negative (1.17) effect on Return on Asset (ROA) which measures Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria from 2011-2020. Based on the decision rule, the null hypothesis Two (Ho2) is accepted.
Ho3 Audit Committee Gender Diversity display no significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.
The decision rule is to reject the null hypothesis if the p. value is less than 0.05 or accept the null hypothesis if the p. value is greater than 0.05.
Table 11 Results of Analysis
Variable Coeff. Std. Err t. value p. value
Audit Committee
Gender Diversity (ACD) 0.0118 0.0047 2.51 0.011
Source: Table 4.5 above.
Table 11 above also reveals that Audit Committee Gender Diversity (ACGD) has a significant (0.011) positive (2.51) effect on Return on Asset (ROA) which measures Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria from 2011-2020. Based on the decision rule, the null hypothesis Three (Ho3) is rejected.

Discussion of Findings
Result from Table 6 above shows that Audit Committee Diligence (ACD) has an insignificant positive effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria measured by Return on Asset (ROA) from 2011-2020 with a coefficient of 0.0462, a t-value of 1.74 and a p. value of 0.083 (insignificant at 5% level), such that, a unit increase in the number of meetings held by the Audit Committee members brings about an insignificant increase in their Financial Performance.
The table also shows that Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE) has an insignificant negative effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria measured by Return on Asset (ROA) from 2011-2020 with a coefficient of 0.0052, a t-value of -1.17 and a p. value of 0.212 (insignificant at all levels), such that, a unit increase in the number of members of Audit Committee with sound knowledge of accounting and finance brings about an insignificant reduction in their Financial Performance.
Table 6 above reveals that Audit Committee Gender Diversity (ACGD) has a significant positive effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria measured by Return on Asset (ROA) from 2011-2020 with a coefficient of 0.0118, a t-value of 2.51 and a p. value of 0.011 (significant at 5% level), such that, a unit increase in the number of female members of Audit Committee engenders a significant increase in their Financial Performance.
Big 4 is found to strengthen the positive relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance. The result shows that big4 strengthens the positive relationship between audit committee gender diversity and financial performance. Big 4 is also found to moderate the relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performance.

  1. Conclusion and Recommendations
    Audit Committee Diligence has shown to be a weak factor in terms of its effect on financial performance of the industrial goods companies that in Nigeria as it has positive but insignificant effect on ROA. Audit Committee Financial Expertise slightly diminish financial performance largely because of the overriding role the experts may allocate to themselves and which they may not have enough time to handle. The more female members are appointed to the Audit Committees of Industrial goods companies, the better as the presence engenders significant financial performance. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made.
    i. Management of Industrial Goods companies in Nigeria should not regard number of times audit committee as a useful factor in improving their financial performance since Audit Committee Diligence has an insignificant but positive effect on Financial Performance.
    ii. The inclusion of members with sound finance and accounting knowledge should be at the minimum because their presence have negative although insignificant effect on Financial Performance.
    iii. Industrial Goods companies should ensure that female members constitute al least two-third of the committee since add value to committee proceedings and exert significant positive effect on financial performance.

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Part 2: Moderating Effect Of Big4 On Audit Committee Characteristics And Financial Performance Of Quoted Nigerian Industrial Goods Companies- By Emmanuel Huleji Daudu, Edogbanya, Adejoh Ph.D.

Concept of Audit Committee Diligence and Financial Performance


Audit Committee Diligence refers to the commitment of the members of the committee demonstrated by the frequency of their meetings which will afford them ample opportunity to resolve issues inimical to the firm’s performance. Garas and ElMassah (2018) note that more regular meetings could help ensure that the agency’s problem is reduced and eliminate asymmetric information that improves information dissemination and boost financial performance. Bhuiyan and D’Costa, 2020) argue that meeting may ensure that shareholders and all investors can get accurate and timely data to make informed financial decisions to the advantage of the firms. Juhmani (2017a) assets that the interest of shareholders can be protected by firms that ensure that a regular audit meeting is carried out which encourages investment and improve financial performance as the level of efficiency and accountability tends to improve. Al Farooque et al. 2019) increasing of number of committee meetings might influence the mechanism of monitoring and that will encourage executives to well perform in their duties which will directly affects and improves the financial performance for the corporation and protecting the shareholders’ wealth.


Concept of Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Profitability
Audit Committee Expertise may be defined as the ratio of members of an audit committee that have sound knowledge of accounting and finance relative to the total number of members of the committee. Oudat et al. (2021) define Audit Committee Financial Expertise as the ability to assess and examine the financial statements, understand applicable principles accounting of the financial statements of the corporation other duties that related to accounting and finance field which will enhance the corporation performance and profitability. Weber (2020) opines that audit committee must comprise persons who have some background in finance and accounting to quickly understand and interpret figures presented in the financial statement. Qeshtaa and Ali (2020) aver that these financial experts must be able to easily assess the Statement of Financial Position quality, statement of cash flow and financial statement and detect inconsistencies that may aggravate audit risk. Mardnly et al, (2018) opine that audit committee financial expertise helps to ensure that the auditing tasks are carried out effectively, leading to higher financial performance. Gurusamy (2017) argues that having the right people with the required financial expertise would significantly improve the firm’s financial performance.


Concept of Audit Committee Gender Diversity and Profitability
Audit Committee Gender Diversity is the inclusion of female directors on the audit committee for the purpose of diversifying resources. Ibrahim and Alharasees (2019) establish that the audit committee gender diversity and the involvement of a female members in committees has a significant effect on the corporation’s decisions and hence it’s overall performance, adding that female audit members are capable of improving firm governance structure through their conservative and ethical qualities. Osemene and Fakile (2018) suggest that greater gender diversity produces more viewpoints and critical issues which can lead to obstacles within the company, possible discrimination, increase in the likelihood of conflict, and reduction in cooperation, satisfaction and engagement thereby adversely affecting performance.


Aldamen et al. (2018) show that company teams with an equal gender representation perform significantly better when it comes to both sales and profits than male-dominated teams. Luckerath-Rovers (2013) observe that the percentage of women on the board and its committees is positively and significantly related to company performance. Carter et al. (2010) report that the presence of women in the audit committee is considered as an improvement to the organizational value and performance as it provides new insights and perspectives in the performance of its oversight functions which would likely result in enhanced performance. Gender advocates argue that women should sit on the monitoring committees such as the audit committee because they are good monitors and can consequently exert positive influence on the profitability of firms (Kaplan et al., 2009). Campbell and Mínguez-Vera (2008) find out that gender diversity has a positive effect on company’s performance. Miller and Triana (2009) reveal that board diversity leads to enhance company’s performance.

Concept of Financial Performance
Nuryaman (2012) defines performance as a description of level of achievement of the implementation of an activities / programs / policies in realizing the goals, purpose, mission and vision of the establishments as stated in the formulation and long term schemes (strategic planning) of an institution, can generally be said that the performance is the achievement which can be achieved by firms in a particular period. Khanchel (2008) posits that the measurement performance can be explained as a process of measuring the efficacy measures. This measurement is tailored towards identifying weakness of any firm and performance of the companies. The effectiveness and efficiency of any organization activities could be viewed as performance measurement of companies or firm performance.


Gitman & Vandenberg, (2000) Nuryaman (2012, p. 12) defined “performance as a description of level of achievement of the implementation of an activities / programs / policies in realizing the goals, purpose, mission and vision of the establishments as stated in the formulation and long term schemes (strategic planning) of an institution, can generally be said that the performance is the achievement which can be achieved by firms in a particular period”. Kald and Nilsson (2000) and Khanchel (2008) posit that the measurement performance can be explained as a process of measuring the efficacy measures. This measurement is tailored towards identifying weakness of any firm and performance of the companies. The effectiveness and efficiency of any organization activities could be viewed as performance measurement of companies or firm performance (Nanka-Bruce, 2011).

2.2 Theoretical Review
This study is anchored on Gender Socialization theory and Contingency theory of leadership. The Gender Socialization theory underpins this study in that in support of theory advocacy for inclusion of substantial number female members on audit committee, this study finds out that more female members on audit committee brings a positive significant effect on Financial Performance. The Contingency theory of leadership also underpins this study as the study found out that increasing the number of people with sound knowledge of accounting and finance on audit committee does not automatically translate to improved financial performance, but as the Contingency theory advocates, appointment financial experts on the audit committee should by based on the particular situation on the ground facing management.

2.3 Empirical Review


Omotoye et al. (2021) investigate audit committee and financial performance of listed deposit money banks in Nigeria. They specifically studied the influence of audit committee size, gender diversity, expertise on performance (measured by Tobin Q). Panel data were gathered from twelve (12) banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2017. The study used fixed and random regression analysis. The results indicate that the association between audit committee size and Tobin Q was negatively significant. There was a positively significant impact of audit committee gender diversity and audit committee expertise on Tobin Q. The results imply that weakness in governance structures might lead to lower performance. This study recommends that firms should ensure that appointment criteria prioritize knowledge and competence, and that regulatory bodies are also encouraged to track the compliance of listed firms with corporate governance regulations. They used appropriate analytical tool in analysing the panel data but using 2017 dataset as the latest in a 2021 study engenders currency problems on their findings.

Ara and Hashim (2021) study the effect of audit committee features on Financial Performance of the listed pharmaceutical companies in Bangladesh. Applying purposive sampling method, the study has used a sample of 5 (five) listed pharmaceutical companies of Bangladesh to perform the empirical investigation. The data were assembled over a period of 4 (four) years from 2016 to 2019 from the annual reports of the sample firms. Audit Committee Size and Audit Committee Independence have been used as the features of Audit Committee, while, return on assets was the proxy that measure the profitability of the sample companies. Adopting multiple regression analysis technique on the collected data, the study has observed that Audit Committee Size has positive significant effect on financial performance, while, Audit Committee Independence has an insignificant positive association towards financial performance of the sample firms. They offer no specific recommendation. The inclusion of 2019 data in the 2021 study helps in improving the currency of their findings but, the mere mention of multiple regression analysis technique with any specificity was not proper.

Haddad et al. (2021) evaluate the impacts of the audit committee on the financial performance of Islamic and conventional banks between 2010 and 2019. The financial performance measures and audit committee of the conventional and Islamic banks considered 112 banks of each type. The collected data were collected from four continents: America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Impacts were compared by using the Generalized Least Squares analysis. The results show that the audit committee reduced the profitability of two bank types. Moreover, it harmed the conventional banks’ efficiency but reported an unclear effect within Islamic banks. The study also find that audit committee had a positive impact on the conventional banks’ liquidity, while the same effect was apparently ambiguous for the Islamic banks’ liquidity. For solvency, the audit committee positively influenced conventional banks while it negatively affected that of Islamic banks. They recommend that future studies should open a new research axis that would compares the importance of a female presence in the ACs of conventional and Islamic banks on their FPs in terms of staff, added value, impact type and degree of influence. Appropriate tools for analysis were employed and the currency of their finding did not suffer as their data included those of 2019 in their 2021 study.

Oudat et al. (2021) investigate the effect of audit committee characteristics and financial performance among services sector corporation-listed in Bahrain Stock Exchange for the period from 2012 to 2019. The Panel Least Square regression method was employed. Audit committee characteristics was represented by expertise, independence, size and frequency of meetings as the independent variables, while, return on asset, return on equity and earning per share are proxies of financial performance. Corporation’s size, leverage and age are examined as control variables. The results show that there is significant relationship between Audit Committee Independence, Audit Committee Meetings and the performance (ROA, ROE and EPS) and there is no statistical significance effect of Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Audit Committee Size on performance (ROA, ROE and EPS). They recommend that future studies should take into account a range of other factors, such as foreign audit committee representatives and AC chairman independence and AC diligence, which may have a major role to play in enhancing firm performance. They used appropriate statistical tool and multi-model analysis which is very distinctively proper and the inclusion of 2019 data in the 2021 data enhanced the currency of their findings.

Qeshta et al. (2021) examine the impact of the Audit Committee’s characteristics on the performance of the five insurance companies listed on the Bahrain Burse over the period from 2012 to 2019. The study uses the size of the audit committee, independence of the audit committee, frequency of meetings of the audit committee and expertise of the audit committee. The study used company size and firm age as control variables. Three-panel models used with a different dependent variable for each one were used in this study. The results of the study show a statistically significant negative relationship between meetings of the audit committee and performance. The size of the audit committee, the independence of the audit committee and the experience of the audit committee have no significant association with the performance of the insurance companies listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. They recommend that, other Audit Committee features outside those used in the study such as Committee tenure and financial experience should be examined in future studies for comparative findings. They failed to specify the three panel models used and did not declare results based on the multiple models but gave a generalization.

Alzeban (2020) explores the role played by audit committees as a facilitator of the achievement of firm performance. Data were gathered from survey questionnaires directed to chief internal auditors and from the annual reports of 119 listed companies in Saudi Arabia (SA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and mediation tests were used to assess the study’s hypotheses. The findings indicate that the independence of the audit committee and having members with accounting and auditing expertise have significant effect on firm performance. The study recommends for future studies to include more economies for comparative conclusions. The use of questionnaires for data assemblage was improper because of inherent reliability problem and the failure to disclose the period cover by the study was not proper.

Commey et al. (2020) examine the effect of Audit Committee Size on Financial Performance of some selected firms in Accra, Ghana. The data were obtained through a field survey while the linear regression model were developed for analysis. In terms of audit committee size, the result shows a negative relationship with ROA, but significant. The audit committee independence has a negative significant effect on return on asset (ROA). Audit Committee Meeting has an insignificant effect on ROA. The study recommends that in order to reduce financial distress in a company, there is need to increase the number of independent directors because they are independent and without influence from the directors and that future studies should consider more factors like, committee gender diversity, audit committee financial expertise, audit committee tenure and other variables such as audit committee composition that can influence firm’s financial performance. They used primary data which a washed with reliability problem and failed to specify which of the linear multiple regression they adopted.

  1. Methodology

  2. This study will adopt the ex-post facto research design as it relies entirely on historical data as the events under investigation have taken place. The population of this study comprises the 21 Industrial Goods companies in Nigeria that were quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange as at 31st December, 2021. The sample size of this study was 21 Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria. This number forms a good representation of the population. This study adopts the Census Sampling Technique which employed when all the population of the study is sampled for study. The data for the study was sourced from the financial reports of the various sampled Insurance Companies from 2012-2021.
  3. The data for this study were diagnosed using Descriptive Statistics for Means and standard deviations, Shapiro-Wilk data normality test to find the distribution pattern of the data, Pearson Correlation matrix to ascertain the presence or otherwise of multicollinearity among the independent variables and heteroskedasticy test to ascertain the stability of the residual variance. The analysis was conducted by Robust Multiple Regression for testing the formulated null hypotheses in both models.

Model Specification
For the purpose of clear presentation and interpretation, this study adopts a Two-model approach because of the distinctive effect of a moderating variable incorporated. The specified models of this study are designated as Model I and Model II.
For Model I which captures the direct interaction between the independent variable and the dependent variable without interference of the moderating variable is specified in a functional linear equation as follows:
ROA = f(ACD + ACFE+ ACGD + AFS) Econometrically, the above functional relationship is presented as:
ROAit = β0 + β1ACDit + β2ACFEit + β3ACGDit + AFS + €it…………..
Where:
ROA = a predictor for Return on Assets (Proxy for dependent variable);
f = denotes functional relationship;
β0 = Coefficient of the constant;
;β1 – 4 = Coefficients of the proxies of independent variable;
β5– β8 = Coefficients of the Audit Firm Type-moderated proxies of independent variable;
ACD = a predictor for Audit Committee Diligence;
ACFE= a predictor for Audit Committee Financial Expertise;
ACGD = a predictor for Audit Committee Gender Diversity;

Variable Measurement and Justification

Variable Type Measurement Justification
Return on Asset Dependent Net profit divided by the total Ara and Hashim (2021); Oudat et al. (2021);
(ROA) asset Ibrahim et al. (2019) and Ojeka et al. (2014).

Audit committee Independent Number of meetings held by Ahmad et al. (2018); Akinleye and Aduwo
Diligence (ACD) the Audit Committee in an (2019).
accounting year.

Audit Committee Independent Proportion of Members with Omotoye et al. (2021); Olayinka (2019),
Financial Expertise sound knowledge of Finance Balogobei and Velnampy (2018) and
(ACFE) and Accounting. Aryan (2015).

Audit Committee Independent Proportion of Members that are Osemene and Fakile (2018); Alqatamin
Gender Diversity Females. (2018) and Wakaba (2014).
(ACGD)

Big4 Moderating Audited by the Big4 designated Yasser and Soliman (2018);
(AFS) (Binary) as 1 otherwise 0 Laleh, and Alireza (2016).
Source: Researcher’s Compilation, 2022

4 Results and Discussion
Descriptive Statistics
Table 2 below shows the descriptive statistics of the variables used in this study which summarises the distributional patters of the model.

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics


variable | Obs Mean Std. Dev. Min Max
ROA 210 0.0413 0.2794 -0.18 0.219
ACD 210 3.7333 0.8558 2 6
ACFE 210 0.4101 0.1051 0.17 0.67
ACGD 210 0.2818 0.1673 0 0.67
Source: STATA 13 software output, 2023.
Table 4.2 above reveals that Return on Asset (ROA) has a value of 0.0413 indicating that the average ROA for the companies examined over the period from 2011-2020 was approximately 0.04, implying that most of the companies performed very poorly in terms of profitability. ROA also has a negative minimum value of -0.18 and a maximum value of 0.219 with First Aluminum in 2016. All the variable except ROA and AFS have standard deviation that are lower than their means indicating that they has a slow growth, while, ROA have standard deviation higher than their means signifying that they has a faster growth rate. Audit Committee Diligence (ACD) has a mean that is approximately 4 meaning that the average number of meeting held was 4, the minimum stipulated by law with a minimum of 2 times and maximum of 6. Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE) has a mean value of 0.4101, connoting that about 40% of audit committee members of the examined companies have sound knowledge of accounting and finance. Audit Committee Gender Diversity (ACGD) has a mean of 0.281 which mean an average of about 3 members of the audit committee were women with a minimum of zero where they did not exist and maximum of 67% where they form two-third of the committee. All the variables were evenly spread as their means lie within the range of their minimum and maximum values.

Analysis of Model II conducted with the aid of Pooled Ordinary Least Square Regression. Result from this model was used to test hypotheses five to eight which shows the moderating effects.
According to Baron and Kenny (1986), to test for moderating variable, three regression need to be conducted, these are (1) regress the moderator on the dependent variables, (2) regress the dependent variables on the independent variables and (3) regress the dependent variables on both independent variables and moderator when controlling the independent variables. “The moderator function as a third variables which partition a focal independent variables into subgroup that establish it domain of maximal effectiveness in regards to a given dependent variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986:1173)”. The moderator effect are indicated by significant effect of moderating variables while the independent and moderator are controlled (Andersson & Nielsen, 2014; Baron & Kenny, 1986).
Table 4.5 Model II regression Analysis
ROA Coef. Std. Err. t P>|t|
ACD .0462 .0265 1.74 0.083
ACFE -.0052 .0044 -1.17 0.212
ACGD .0118 .0047 2.51 0.011**
ACDB4 .0362 .0265 1.74 0.083 ACFEB4 -.0002 .0044 -1.17 0.212
ACGDB4 .0128 .0047 2.52 0.011*
_cons -.0776 .2405 -0.39 0.716

R-squared = 0.8257
Adj R-squared = 0.7652
F –statistics = 31.06
Prob>F = O.0015

Note: *** = 1% and ** = 5% significance levels.
Source: STATA 13 output (2022).

Table 8 present the moderating effect of big4 on the relationship audit committee characteristics and financial performance in Nigeria. The dependent variable is plotted on the Y axis and independent variable on the X axis. The result indicates that the big4 is found not to moderates the relationship between audit committee expertize and ROA. The result is found not to be significantly associated in all the steps. This suggests that the interaction of the big4 lead to lower financial performance.


Furthermore, the result indicates that the big4 is found to moderates the relationship between audit committee gender diversity and ROA. The result is found to be significantly associated in all the steps. This suggests that the interaction of the big4 lead to higher financial performance.
More so, the result indicates that the big4 is found to moderates the relationship between audit committee size and ROA. The result is found to be significantly associated in all the steps. This suggests that the interaction of the big4 lead to robust financial performance.

Part 1: Moderating Effect Of Big4 On Audit Committee Characteristics And Financial Performance Of Quoted Nigerian Industrial Goods Companies- By Emmanuel Huleji Daudu, Edogbanya, Adejoh Ph.D.

EMMANUEL Huleji Dauda and EDOGBANYA,Adejoh Ph.D.
daudupress@gmail.com and adejoh17@yahoo.com.

Abstract
The primary role of the audit committee is to supervise the internal process of preparing financial reports and ensure that the conflict of interest between management and shareholders is minimized by instituting internal control mechanisms so as to enhance overall performance of the firms. A function that is critical for the survival of every business. Against this background, this study examines the Moderating effect of Big4 on Audit Committee and Financial Performance of Quoted Nigerian Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria from 2011-2020. Audit Committee was proxied by Audit Committee Diligence, Audit Committee Financial Expertise, and Audit Committee Gender Diversity.

Financial Performance was measured by Return on Asset. The population and the sample size are the same Twenty-One Industrial Goods Companies Quoted on the Nigerian Exchange as at 31st December, 2020. The data were sourced from the financial statements of the companies. Descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation, Shapiro-Wilk data normality test and Heteroskedasticy test were the diagnostic tests conducted. The analysis was by Pooled Ordinary Least Square multiple regression method. It was recommended that there is significant relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial performances, companies should ensures expertise are seriously considered in formation of audit committee of any corporation.
Keywords: Audit Committee, Financial Performance, Return on Assets, Moderating Variable.


Introduction


Audit committee is a central element of one of such reforms engendered by corporate governance practice that can improve the quality of financial reporting through an open and candid communication and a good working relationship with a company’s board of directors, internal auditors and external auditors (Mustafa, 2012). The existence of an appropriately constituted audit committee is now a necessity for all listed companies in Nigeria. According to CAMA (2020) Section 359 (4) as amended,(2020) the make-up of the statutory audit committee shall consist of an equal number of directors and representatives of the shareholders of the company subject to a maximum number of six members (Eriabie & Izedonmi, 2016). For the purpose of this study, audit committee referred to is the statutory audit committee.

Audit committee is an important corporate governance mechanism designed to ensure that a company produces relevant, adequate and credible information that investors as well as independent observers can use to assess company performance with high reliability (Bansal & Sharma, 2016).

The Audit committee’s establishment comes as a solution to the corporate scandal that was rocking numerous companies across the globe. For instance, in Nigeria, Chief Executives of Oceanic, Afribank and Intercontinental Banks were found guilty of high level fraud running into billions of Naira and money laundering cases while, the CEO of Cadbury Plc and Lever Brothers (now Unilever Plc), an Anglo-Dutch company were accused of doctoring their financial statements (Afolabi & Amupitan, 2015; Chukwunedu et al. 2013). These crises arose despite the fact that their books of accounts were certified to be true and fair representation of their financial position by external auditors.

The most important roles of the audit committee include overseeing the financial reporting process and monitoring the management since management intends to manipulate figures for their own interest (Al-Mamun et al., 2014). The Audit Committee could be either Board audit committee or statutory audit committee electable only by the Annual General Meetings (AGM). Audit committee is a central element of one of such reforms engendered by corporate governance practice that can improve the Profitability by ensuring strict internal control and fostering a good working relationship with a company’s board of directors, internal auditors and external auditors (Mustafa, 2012).

The existence of an appropriately constituted audit committee is now a necessity for all listed companies in Nigeria. According to CAMA (2004) as amended in 2020, Section 359 (4) the make-up of the statutory audit committee shall consist of an equal number of directors and representatives of the shareholders of the company subject to a maximum number of six members (Eriabie & Izedonmi, 2016). For the purpose of this study, audit committee referred to is the statutory audit committee.

Audit Committee Diligence refers to the level of commitment exercised by the members of the audit committee can be measured by the number of meeting they hold in an accounting year. The Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance (2018) states in Section 11.4.5 that the committee should meet at least once every quarter and in Section 11.4.8 added that at least, once in a year, the committee should hold a discussion with the head of the internal audit function and the external auditors without the presence of management, to facilitate an exchange of views and concerns that may not be appropriate for open discussion. Common sense dictates that the more regularly the members of an audit committee meet, the better for the company as issues demanding their attention would not pile up or remain unattended to for a long time thereby assisting the internal control system as a whole to function effective, thereby remain a factor that affects financial performance.

Audit Committee Financial Expertise refers to the proportion of the committee members with a good knowledge of accounting and finance. Financial experts inclusion in audit committee was first recognized under Section 359 (3) and (4) of CAMA 2004 (as amended) and was further reflected in the SEC code of 2011 mandating that at least one of the audit committee members should have sound knowledge in financial and accounting matters (Osemene & Fakile, 2018). Section 11.4.2 of the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance (2018) puts it succinctly clear that all members of the audit committee should be financially literate and should be able to read and understand financial statements and that at least one member of the committee should be a financial expert in accounting and financial management and be able to interpret financial statements.


Audit Committee Gender Diversity refers to the differences in the number of male and female members of the audit committee of companies. There has been a steady demand for female representation on corporate boards and hence audit committees since the Benjing declaration in 1995 where it was argued that women have not been given their rightful place in corporate governance (Omotoye et al., 2021). This call finds support in the Resource dependency theory which aligns with the view that inclusion of women on the board would afford the firm different ideas, views and experience. Audit committee gender diversity which is concerned with the presence of women on audit committee has the potential of influencing financial performance since it has been argued according to Wakaba (2014), that women are more likely to be through and vigilant in their statutory responsibilities and therefore detect misstatements and fraud easily.


The main objective of this study will be to examine the Moderating effect of Audit Firm Type on Audit Committee and Financial Performance of quoted Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria, while the specific objectives are to:


I. Establish the effect of Audit Committee Diligence and Financial Performance of Quoted Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.
II. Determine the effect of Audit Committee Financial Expertise on Financial Performance of Quoted Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.

I. Investigate the Audit Committee Gender Diversity on Financial Performance of Quoted Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria.
In order to achieve the stated objectives of this study, the following null hypotheses were developed:
I. Audit Committee Diligence does not have significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria;
II. Audit Committee Financial Expertise has no significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria;
III. Audit Committee Gender Diversity shows no significant effect on Financial Performance of Industrial Goods Companies in Nigeria;
2 Conceptual Review of the Study
The conceptual framework of this study is made up of the independent variable (Audit Committee) proxied by Audit Committee Diligence (ACD), Audit Committee Financial Expertise (ACFE), and Audit Committee Gender Diversity (ACGD), the dependent variable Financial Performance measured by Return on Asset (ROA).

Concept Audit Committee
Qeshta et al. (2021) refer to an Audit Committees as a supervisory body on behalf of all stakeholders that is mandated to ensure financial information’s trustworthiness by creating a management-free environment where external auditors can certify the company’s accounts and financial statements, adding that an audit committee must have the competence and be empowered to perform its role as a catalyst for implementing, observing and maintaining acceptable corporate governance practices to benefit all stakeholders and management. Olayinka (2019) reports that Audit Committees establish checks and balances in the internal control system through the association of internal auditors and external auditors to ensure that the management comply with the laid down rules. Salloum et al. (2014) maintain that Audit Committee is to assist the board of directors in effective management monitoring with the aim of protecting the interest of the shareholders.


Samoei and Rono (2016) note that Audit committees have a significant impact on the financial performance of a firm because they act as watchdogs and can prevent fraudulent financial reporting by ensuring that the financial statement reflects the actual state of affairs on the ground.

Audit committees play an important role in supervising and monitoring the management of the company in order to protect the interests of the owners (Oroud, 2019). The audit committee, in the opinion of Arshad et al. (2011) is a critical link between a firm’s financial reporting function and its external shareholders, noting that when this link is compromised, it can lead to even larger corporate governance failures. Olayinka (2019) also affirms that firms with high-quality audit committees are less likely to have internal control weaknesses which will adversely affect financial performance than firms with low-quality audit committees. For the purpose of this study, Audit Committee characteristics are Audit Committee Size, Audit Committee Independence, Audit Committee Financial Expertise and Audit Committee Gender Diversity

To read part 2 click the link below

https://africasecurityinvestigation.data.blog/2023/04/27/part-2-moderating-effect-of-big4-on-audit-committee-characteristics-and-financial-performance-of-quoted-nigerian-industrial-goods-companies-by-emmanuel-huleji-daudu-edogbanya-adejoh-ph-d/

To finish reading, click the part 3 link below

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Courtesy Visit: MD NAMA receives in audience ATACA Exco


… Says with primary radar facility, Nigeria will achieve total coverage

Director General of the the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Lawrence Pwajok on Thursday received in audience the Executive Members of The Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondents Association (ATACA).

Speaking during the meeting the NAMA Boss who was elated about the visit used the opportunity to explain trending issues on the aviation infrastructure development by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.

He disclosed that NAMA is procuring a primary radar facility that can detect unauthorized helicopters and other aircraft even when they turn off their transponders.

“The facility already being procured will complement the current secondary radar which doesn’t have the capability to detect low flying aircraft and aircraft that turn off their transponders to avoid being detected”, Pwajok said.

He further added that with the facility Nigeria would have the capability of achieving total radar coverage and no part of Nigeria will be blind to security watch.

According to him: The primary radar has the capacity to detect every flying object, whether it wants to be seen or not but unfortunately, it requires a whole lot of power and energy which makes it expensive. So, for civil aviation, they are deployed within very busy and complex airspace like Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt.

He further explained that in 2008/09 when the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) was installed, the military was supposed to also have its own using the Primary radar system but the huge costs involved made implementation almost impossible.

“The civil and military aviation would appreciate the funding of primary radar that would be total as both can interface on its usage and the benefits are humongous”, MD NAMA concluded.

Also speaking, the ATACA Chairman, Mr Oru Leonard Oru who led the Exco team, applauded the NAMA Boss for his passion, zeal and commitment in managing the Agency, the national airspace infrastructure and operations.

Mr Oru said ATACA has come to identify areas of collaboration and join hands with Mr Lawrence Pwajok led NAMA, to achieve or surpass It’s mandate.

ATACA Chairman therefore requested for closer regular updates, interactions and urgent technical training for ATACA members to enhance information dissemination and proper reportage.

In the last two months of assuming office the New ATACA Executive Team has been engaging stakeholders to seek ways of enhancing collaboration and building capacity.

ECOWAS Commission Assesses ownership & implementation of Revised Operational Manual for ECOWAS National Office in Senegal

Delegation led by the Director of External Relations of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jérôme BOA

In the context of efforts to ensure consistency and coherence in the ownership and implementation of the Revised Operational Manual for the ECOWAS National Offices, an ECOWAS delegation began the first leg of its three-countries (Senegal, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire) assessment mission with a working session with the ECOWAS National Office in Dakar, Senegal from 12th to 13th April 2023.

The assessment was aimed at ascertaining the level of support and commitment of the Member States in their implementation of the Revised Operational Manual as well as to identify challenges and constraints that could emerge from its ownership so as to put in place corrective measures.

The Revised Operational Manual was adopted by the Council of Ministers in December 2021 in Abuja, Nigeria.

The Assessment team was led by Mr. Jerome BOA, Director of External Relations and supported by officials from the Directorate of External Relations.

The team met with Amb. Stephan Sylvain SAMBOU, Head of the ECOWAS National Office in Senegal and Amb. Jean Antoine DIOUF, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, who was previously the Head of ECOWAS National Office in Senegal.

Amb. Stephan Sylvain Sambou, welcomed the assessment team and expressed his deep gratitude for the assessment mission as it offered the opportunity to identify areas for improvement in the ownership and implementation the Manual. Leveraging on his experience as the former Head of ECOWAS National Office, Amb. Diouf noted that there is a need for enhanced flow of communication between the Commission and ECOWAS National Offices.

He also highlighted the importance of synergy and coordination in enhancing ECOWAS visibility at the national level. He reiterated the commitment of the Senegalese Government H.E. Madame Aissata TALL SALL, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, towards supporting the 4X4 objectives of the ECOWAS Management and ECOWAS Vision 2050.

Mr. Jerome Boa briefed the Senegalese interlocutors about the Revised Operational Manual and reassured them of the continuing availability of the Commission and the Directorate of External Relations in supporting the ECOWAS National Office as it implements and operationalises the Revised Manual. He also used the opportunity to update the ECOWAS National Offices about the Aid Management Platform (AMP) being developed at the

Commission as information and communication tool to enable the Commission and Member states through the ECOWAS National Offices and Development Partners to gather access, and monitor information on regional partners’ projects, with the overarching goal of increasing aid effectiveness. The AMP aims to help users to track specific projects through the planning, implementation, and evaluation stages. Furthermore, its features such as online workspaces, data entry, reporting, interactive dashboards and maps provide the Commission and Member states with strategic information for efficient decision-making.

The Assessment team also took a detour of the ECOWAS National Office in Senegal with view to review the physical and staff complement of the office in line with the provisions of Article 2 of the Revised Operational Manual.

The observations and recommendations of the Assessment team as well as the suggestions for improving the ownership and implementation of the Revised Operational made by the Senegalese interlocutors will be shared with the other ECOWAS National Offices and the Commission. From Senegal, the assessment team will proceed to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

UNESCO Laureate Congratulates Prof Asaolu On His Appointment As Pioneer VC, University Of Ilesa


…UNESCO Laureate, and Vice-Chancellor Crown University Int’l Chartered Inc.,

…Prof Sir Bashiru Aremu, has congratulated Prof Taiwo Olufemi Asaolu as the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of University…

UNESCO Laureate, and Vice-Chancellor Crown University Int’l Chartered Inc., Prof Sir Bashiru Aremu, has congratulated Prof Taiwo Olufemi Asaolu as the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilesa, Osun State Nigeria.

This was contained in a press statement personally signed by Aremu on Monday and made available to journalists by his Assistant on Media, Publicity and Communication Matters, Comrade Sir Bieni Victor Emenike.

Aremu urged the new institution’s VC to lead with the fear of God.

“Congratulations My Dearest Distinguished Most Senior Professor of Accounting. Congratulations once again on your new appointment as pioneer Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria. I wish you long life, good health, wisdom, fear of God, happiness, prosperity and future success as you assume office in your new appointment.

“I, UNESCO Laureate World Acclaimed Distinguished Universities Research Professor Sir Bashiru Aremu can attest to you capacity to deliver on your new appointment as pioneer Vice-Chancellor of University of Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria. He served as Head, Department of Management and Accounting and Coordinator, Executive MBA Programme for 5 years between 2008 and 2014. He was elected to serve as the Dean, Faculty of Administration between 2014 and 2016.

“He has published over 60 journal articles and textbooks covering different areas of Accounting, Management and Entrepreneurs. He attended primary and secondary schools in Ibadan and sat for the WASCE in 1980. He attended the University of Ife in 1983 to study Accounting and graduated in 1987.

“He completed his PG.D (Computer Science) in 1990, MBA in 1993, M. Phil in 2001 and Ph. D in 2004. He was promoted Senior Lecturer in 1996, Reader in 2005 and Professor of Accounting in 2008. Prof. Asaolu is currently a Council Member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and once served as a member of the Governing Board of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).

“Prof. Asaolu has visited countries like USA, UK, Singapore, China, Canada, India, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, UAE, and others. He has successfully supervised more than 30 Ph. D holders and over 200 M. Sc/ M. Phil graduates. 6 of his Ph. D students are full professors today to the glory of God. Professor Asaolu is married, has 6 children and 4 grandchildren,” the statement read in part.

NiMeT alerts public against fake FB, Whatsapp, LinkedIn, emails, phone numbers for DG, Prof Matazu

By Emmanuel Daudu

The management of Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet) has dissociate itself from the Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, email, phone numbers created on behalf it’s Director-General, Prof Mansur Bako Matazu and warned unsuspecting public against such accounts.

This is to notify the general public that some unscrupulous persons have created fake Facebook, WhatsApp,  LinkedIn  accounts as well as email and phone numbers for the Director General/CEO of  Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu and have been using such to defraud the innocent unsuspecting public.

NiMeT, in a statement singed by the General Manager of Public Relations Department, Mallam Muntari Yusuf Ibrahim, advised the public against falling prey to such accounts by unscrupulous elements for the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
“The general public is therefore advised to be careful of these people.
Any enquires should be directed through our website or using our mail, info@nimet.gov.ng”
While pledging our continuous services, to stakeholders and the general public, we  assure you that the relevant security agencies have been notified and are on the trail of those committing this act.

“They will soon be caught and made to face the wrath of the law”, the statement added.

WHO marks it’s 75th anniversary alongside it’s day

Today is World Health Day, and this year’s commemoration also marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Founded in 1948, WHO is the United Nations’ agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health and well-being.   

It works with 194 Member States, including Nigeria, across six regions with  more than 150 offices.

The organisation said in the past 75 years, there has been progress in protecting people from diseases and destruction, including smallpox eradication, reducing the incidence of polio by 99%, saving millions of lives through childhood immunization, decline in maternal mortality and improving health and well-being for millions more.

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Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said the history of WHO demonstrates what is possible when nations come together for a common purpose.

“We have much to be proud of, but much work to do to realise our founding vision of the highest attainable standard of health for all people. We continue to face vast inequities in access to health services, major gaps in the world’s defences against health emergencies, and threats from health harming products and the climate crisis. We can only meet these global challenges with global cooperation.”

He urged countries to take urgent action to protect, support and expand the health workforce as a strategic priority. Investments in education, skills and decent jobs for health need to be prioritised to meet the rapidly growing demand for health services and avert a projected shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030; primarily in low- and middle-income countries.

WHO says looking forward to the next 75 years and close to the turn of the next century, a renewed commitment to health equity will be the key to addressing future health challenges. “In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO’s roadmap to recovery includes an urgent paradigm shift towards promoting health and well-being and preventing disease by addressing its root causes and creating the conditions for health to thrive.’’

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said 75 years ago, WHO was founded with an ambitious objective, “the attainment of all peoples of the highest possible level of health.”

She said important achievements have been realised towards the aspirations of the leaders who founded WHO.

“Smallpox, which claimed an estimated 300 million lives in the 20th century alone, has been eradicated. Since 1974, millions of children have received life-saving vaccines and other child survival interventions. In 2020, the WHO Africa Region received certification for eradicating wild polioviruses.

“Scaling up essential health services and coverage with key interventions has yielded results. Between 2011 and 2021, new HIV infections in the WHO African Region were reduced by 44% and AIDS-related deaths by 55%.  TB deaths in the region fell by 26% between 2015 and 2021. Simultaneously, healthy life expectancy in the African Region increased on average by 10 years per person between 2000 and 2019,” she said.

She said although most Member States in the African Region have integrated the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as a central goal of their national health strategies, progress remains varied in translating this into equitable and quality services as well as increasing financial protection for the population.

Dr Moeti said, “About half of Africa’s citizens (48%) – some 672 million people – still do not have access to the health care they need. This results from weak health systems characterised by inadequate health infrastructure; poorly designed policies to limit financial barriers to health services; shortage of qualified health workers; inadequate access to quality medicines, medical products, and innovative technologies.” 

Nigeria’s experience

The WHO representative to Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo said  the organization in collaboration with the government have been achieving notable strides in keeping the people safe and serving vulnerable population, in such areas as combatting infectious diseases, HIV treatment, reducing maternal mortality, increase in life expectancy, and supporting disease eradication. 

He said some notable achievements recorded in Nigeria include the eradication of smallpox.

“In 1969, the WHO effort in Nigeria was historical during the interruption of the smallpox outbreak in the country. A key element in the eradication effort was the surveillance-containment strategy, which was first tested in Nigeria in 1966, and led to its adoption throughout the world.

“This paved a way for the 33rd World Health Assembly to adopt a resolution accepting the report of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication in May 1980.

“Nigeria was certified Guinea worm free by WHO in December 2013. A recent milestone is Nigeria and the WHO AFRO Region were certified wild polio-free in August 2020, creating  WPV free environment to children to prevent paralysis.’’

He said WHO Nigeria implemented Accountability Framework to monitor its 2000+ Polio workforce at field level. This has significantly contributed to the WPV eradication from Nigeria.

“Currently, WHO Nigeria is supporting the government in interrupting (circulating vaccine derived polio virus type 2) cVDPV2 outbreak. In 2022, 84% reduction in cVDPV2 was registered.

“In 2014, WHO supported Nigeria to successfully respond to the Ebola virus disease; making it a best practice that is widely cited in scientific cycles.’’

Similarly, WHO has been supporting the government across all levels to build the capacity of health workers to improve health resources and services provided in the country.

WHO’s role in tackling HIV

WHO’s Technical Officer in charge of HIV and Viral Hepatitis, Dr Funke Ilesanmi Odunlade said over 90 per cent of the people living with HIV in Nigeria has been discovered, and over majority of them has been placed on treatment. “This has been made possible because the country actually adopted the WHO treat all policy, which means everybody living with HIV is put on treatment and this has actually helped to increase the quality of life for people living with HIV.”

She said a notable feat of WHO and other partners support is the extension of services to the communities thereby providing access for women and children who don’t come to health facilities.

She said WHO worked with the government for inclusion of viral hepatitis in the immunisation schedule while with worked against polio.

Malaria vaccine introduction

Lynda Ozor, Malaria Programme Manager , WHO said Nigeria has witnessed reduction in malaria prevalence. “In 2010 the prevalence was 42 per cent, just in the space of less than 10 years, it had come down to 2021 that is unprecedented given the sheer size of the country. This could not have been achieved without the introduction of new tools and a combination of tools that work.”

She said malaria vaccine  is the latest tool in the block and that Nigeria has applied for in the current window that is closing on April 19. “We’re hoping that by 2024 we will have the introduction of the  malaria vaccine in the country,” she said.

She said with WHO’s support the strategic policy in Nigeria was now focused on everyone. 

It is helping to address manpower shortage -Ojo

Dr Olumuyiwa Ojo said WHO recently came up with the new safeguards list a list of 55 countries (including Nigeria) that are most impacted by shortage of health workers. He said it calls for support for health workforce development and health system strengthening.

He said WHO’s support for the health workforce in the country helped enhanced access to care,   ensured retention of manpower where they are needed most and also improved their training and remuneration.

Speaking on the impact of WHO, Prof Oyewale Tomori, a renowned virologist and public health expert said: “The health of the world would have been in a worse situation without the WHO. At least, none thinks anymore of the dreaded and terrible smallpox, now eradicated with WHO’s leadership guidance and coordination. Soon the world will be free of poliomyelitis, another disease slated for eradication, by the WHO. 

“There have been improvements in standards of living….My generation survived by CHANCE…But with WHO, this generation has a CHOICE of several interventions for a longer better and healthier life. “

To fully attain the status of health within the next 75 years,   he said, “very much more needs to be done, not just by the WHO, but especially by individual governments and communities.  The challenges are multifactorial, far beyond what WHO alone can handle…Climate change, under funding of health systems and activities, social inequities, political inadequacy and irresponsibility.  There is the need for an all-inclusive commitment.”

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, thanked WHO for its support for  Nigeria over the years.“ I want to congratulate the WHO on this 75th anniversary of active service to humanity and to thank WHO for supporting the entire health sector in Nigeria technically and financially these years.”

Source: Daily Trust

NGO shares 360 crutches to people with disability in Karumajigi

By Emmanuel Daudu

A nongovernmental organization, Poverty and Disability Initiative in Nigeria, (PADIN) has lamented the increased rate of poverty among people living with disability in Nigeria while promising to contribute their quota in filling the gap as it shared 360 crutches to people living with disability

This much was said by the president and founder of the NGO, Olatunji Oladaya Lincoln while speaking with our correspondent on Saturday during the occasion of the distribution of crutches to people living with disability at the Disable colony, Karumajigi, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory.

He maintained that there has been a lot of talk about taking care of the disabled once in Nigeria but nothing much has been done by the Government to alleviate the suffering of these persons, which he said prompted their Organization in collaboration with their partner, NCGI to donate crutches to them, with the promise to make more deliveries in the nearest future.

He explained further, “I was born as a person with a disability, and if you look at over thirty million Nigerians that are persons with disabilities, we need people to fill the gap for them. The rate of poverty increases within the range of these persons within the disabled community is very high and alarming. Thank God I had the privilege to have gone to school.

“And as the person with a disability that I am, I think I have to represent the thirty million people, I have to fill the gap too which is why you saw me here doing this for my people. They are my people.”

Also speaking at the event, Mr. Taiwo Ibukun Oluwa Okpeyo who is one of the volunteers for NCGI Nigeria, said, “Today we are partnering with PADIN to distribute crutches for disabled people here. Our main aim and objective are to help people living with disability by giving them clutches, walking aides, and wheelchairs, and again we cater for elderly persons in our society. Most people have one form of deformity or the other.  

Meanwhile, the project Director of PADIN, Christina Obinna Okafor explained why the choice of Karumajigi for the delivery of the clutches,

“We discovered that this Karumajigi is actually the disability colony in Abuja. This is where you have the majority of people living with a disability residing. So rather than going about seeking disabled people on the street we felt it is better we can come here. When you talk to the chief there is actually somebody who is the leader of the people living with disability here which makes it easier to reach out to all manner of people living with disability, because they have them on record. Like you have seen they actually have the list, they have it typed out and it made our work easier.

She explained further that the joy they see on the faces of the recipients is what motivates them to want to do more, “As you saw on the NCJI T-shirt, we are sharing love, we are sharing passion, and we are sharing joy. It’s unbelievable the relief you see on the faces of these people. As we tagged it UNBURDEN, we are actually lifting off the burden of having to look for proteases for these people, because I don’t know when you look at them to get proteases like the crutches, or the wheelchairs it’s quite expensive.  And so when you have these things and you can give it out to them you are actually lifting lots of loads.

The Country Director of PADIN in Nigeria, Paul Mubuchi Ogbonna on his part stressed that the job of trying to alleviate the suffering of the people living with a disability does not end at shearing crutches, “As a matter of fact we are going to be bringing a lot of things on the table like entrepreneurship. We are going to bring such things to the table to make them understand that they can be more useful to themselves despite their disability. We plan to move a lot of them out off the street and empower them, giving them entrepreneurship spirit. And it all starts with teaching. Once you can impart knowledge and education into someone you have helped the person.

About 360 crutches were shared to the persons living with disability at Karumajigi on Saturday.