2022 Edition Of The Women Directors’ Conference Themed “Facing Forward – The Evolving Nature Of Boards In A Rapidly Changing World” On 22/09/2022

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VIRTUAL ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 2022 EDITION OF THE WOMEN DIRECTORS’ CONFERENCE THEMED “FACING FORWARD – THE EVOLVING NATURE OF BOARDS IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD” ON THE 22ND OF SEPTEMBER, 2022

PROTOCOLS

I am honoured to join you at this 2022 edition of the Institute of Directors, Women Directors’ Conference. And I thank the governing council of the institute for the kind invitation.

The theme of the conference: “Facing Forward – The evolving Nature of Boards in a Rapidly Changing World”, as well as the topics for discussion will cover a very wide remit and looking at the calibre of speakers, you certainly have a rich and busy day ahead.

I have chosen to speak to a small but I think important sub-aspect of the theme, this is the question of female representation and participation in leadership. But more pointedly to make the case for effective and balanced female representation in leadership.

I think a question that always seems to pop up in conversations on the subject is: do women do better than men in the same positions? Or are men better performers on the job than women? The arguments will go on and on, but let us look at some of the evidence. I have some anecdotal and personal experience and there are a few empirical types of research.

When I was appointed Attorney General in Lagos in 1999, one of the major problems with the judiciary was corruption. We conducted a study of 200 lawyers who practice in the High Courts of Lagos State, 89% of them said that judges were notoriously corrupt.

We then started a reform which involved compensation and discipline and several other things. But also, a deliberate head hunting of female lawyers, many of whom had no previous courtroom experience but were outstanding as academics, corporate lawyers and solicitors. When we announced our list of new appointees of 52 judges, 71% per cent of them were female. As of 2001, 71% of judges in Lagos State were female.

In 2007, when we conducted yet another survey of 200 lawyers, we asked the same question on the perception of corruption in the judiciary as we asked in 1999, this time 0% said judges in the high court of Lagos State were corrupt.

Despite the fact that many of the judges had not been in practice, they had turned out to be easily amongst the most outstanding judges in the country.

Now there are many variables here and we cannot say categorically that women make better and more honest judges than men, but the Lagos judiciary has shown that there may be a point in thinking that way.

Well, let’s look at some quite reliable studies. The Centre for Economic Policy and the World Economic Forum published an analysis on the handling of Coronavirus in 194 countries.

The study showed that countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better outcomes than countries led by men. These leaders include Germany’s Angela Merkel, New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and Finland’s Sanna Marin.

The study confirmed that all the female-led countries locked down earlier and suffered only half as many deaths as countries led by men. The policy responses of the female leaders were more proactive and coordinated.

How about the performance of female-led companies? There is reliable empirical research on this too. Peer-reviewed research of listed companies on the S&P index from 2000 to 2015 at the Mac Qwary (Macquarie) Business School, conducted by Dr. Farida Akhtar showed that companies with female CEOs perform better than companies with male CEOs and the same goes for companies with substantial female representation on their boards.

Also, other research shows that Fortune-500 companies with more female directors on their boards have been reported to show a 42% stronger return on sales and 53% higher return on equity than companies with lesser women on their boards.

The findings of a Deloitte study which I will mention shortly also show that companies with female Board Chairs or CEOs are usually more diverse and more gender-balanced than companies with male Board Chairs and CEOs.

So, there you have local and international evidence, but unfortunately, our male-dominated world is not giving up its monopoly easily. Deloitte’s 2021 Women in the Boardroom Report shows that the worldwide average of Women on Boards is now 19.7%. Only 6.7% are Board Chairs, and Female CEOs across the world are 4.4%. Nigeria beats the world average by over 3% which shows clearly positive movement in the male-dominated boardrooms. But women’s representation in government positions remains stuck in the past.

Only last year, an attempt to pass legislation mandating women to fill 35% of appointed positions in government and 35% of elective positions generally, failed in the National Assembly. The legislators across parties appeared resolutely against the idea. After considerable local and international criticism, it appears the legislature is reconsidering the matter.

It appears that in every sector we are going against both the empirical and anecdotal currents of opinion.

What can be done? I think important organizations such as yours must step up advocacy for female representation in general as an economic imperative and not a moral duty of men or mere concession by men. The argument is clear, a country that keeps down half of its productive demographic is bound to perform sub-optimally. But the issue is not just board representation, it is about representation in politics and government, this is where major decisions affecting our lives are made. But perhaps most importantly, it is about the education of girls.

The high levels of female illiteracy are dangerous from all possible standpoints. If half your population is uneducated, it means that development and being competitive in a knowledge-driven world will not happen or it will happen too slowly to be of much use.

Educated women mean educated children and this is the pipeline for women who will become CEOs, legislators, government officials and bureaucrats.

Female representation must not be reduced to representation by a few elite women who have the good fortune of education. There is a much larger fight for the future of a large majority of girls who are not even represented in primary schools. We must talk to State governors, the States of the Federation control primary and secondary education they must be engaged in the advocacy and persuasion efforts.

I think the work of the Women Directors’ Committee is well cut out for it. Female representation is the representation of possibly 50% of Nigerians and as we have seen perhaps, even the smarter half. Our socio-economic future in so many ways depends on getting it right.

Let me again commend the institute of Directors, the Women Directors’ Development Committee for this insightful and forward-looking conference. I wish you excellent conversations and interactions today.

It is now my special pleasure and privilege to declare open the 2022 Institute of Directors, Women Directors’ Conference.

Thank you very much and God bless you all.