The Nigerian Integrated Reporting Committee (NIRC) in partnership with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria is set to organize a two-day sustainability reporting training for financial institutions in the country.
Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, the Chairman of NIRC and the immediate past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) while addressing newsmen in Lagos explained that the training is set to hold on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th July in Abuja.
He said that the training is part of a series of advocacy and capacity building programmes which both organizations have structured to build capacity for the various sectors that are expected to adopt and implement the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB’s) sustainability standards.
He said that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of Nigeria, International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and NGX Regulation Limited (NGX RegCo) recently launched the first two IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 Standards) in Lagos which makes Nigeria the first African country to adopt the standard.
He noted that standards were also launched in six major global financial centers which include; New York, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Santiago and Montreal.
He said according to FRC the adoption of ISSBs sustainability standards is in a bid to empower investors to make better investment decisions as well as encourage corporates to adopt sustainability at the core of their corporate reporting.
According to him, the decision of Nigeria to adopt the ISSB standards is based on the fact that it represents a global baseline for a single set of high-quality sustainability reporting standards and its adoption has the effect of unlocking capital and generating the much-needed foreign direct investments for Nigeria.
In order to actualise the adoption of IFRS S1 and S2, he pointed out that FRC signed a MOU with NIRC which will serve as its technical partner.
Okwuosa said that the strategy document prepared by NIRC indicates a series of capacity building activities starting with industry specific trainings, that the first of such training targets financial institutions and will hold in Abuja starting from 10th July.
He said that Africa’s representative at ISSB Dr Ndidi Nnoli is billed to deliver keynote address, that goodwill messages are expected from Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Director General of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), CEO NGX, NAICOMM Commissioner, DG Pencomm, Presidents Professional Accountancy Organisations among others.
He added that the adoption of sustainability reporting would help attract capital as it will demonstrate that businesses are aware of and have good strategies to deal with climate related risks and opportunities.