The percentage of women who secured seats at the boardroom tables of Nigeria’s most valuable companies has dropped this year, according to a new report.
The fourth edition of the report titled ‘2023 PWR NGX Top 30 Gender Diversity Scorecard’ by PWR Advisory, an inclusion and sustainability advisory firm in Africa, showed a marginal decline in the number of female board directors to 27.4 percent in July 2023 compared to 27.9 percent last year.
“Although this year’s scorecard has been expanded to cover the NGX top 30 and not just the 20 largest companies per previous years, the data tells the same story. The pace of change is slow and unsatisfactory,” the report said.
Read also: Here are 10 Nigerian companies with highest earnings per share
It said in the UK, the representation of women on the boards of FTSE 350 companies now stands at an impressive 40.2 percent, as revealed in the 2023 FTSE Women Leaders Report.
“This comes three years ahead of schedule. It was achieved by senior business leaders from different organisations, with support from the government, all working together towards voluntary targets,” it added.
A breakdown of the report revealed that 72.6 percent of the directors at the NGX 30 companies are men. “46.7 percent of the companies have at least 30 percent female board representation. Last year, 50 percent of the top 20 companies met this criteria.”
Read also: NGX Group to pay interim dividend to shareholders
It added that of all the companies featured in the report over the last four years, nine in particular have recorded significant improvements in the numbers of women on their boards.
“One of them – UBA PLC – deserves special commendation because they have gone from 18.8 percent in 2020 to topping the chart this year at 53.3 percent.”
