The Nigerian Stock Exchange is pleased to announce that it has released its first Sustainability Report titled ‘Connecting Nigeria to the world through a Sustainable Capital Market’. The report demonstrates The Exchange’s commitment to increased disclosure, expanded stakeholder engagement and thought leadership on sustainability as a key aspect of its business strategy.
The report which aligns with the Exchange’s Corporate Social Responsibility framework, covers the four key impact areas it has devoted attention and resources:
1. Market Place: The NSE continues its journey to build a sustainable organization through responsible and inclusive financial and investment services. Our major achievements include:
- Launching the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM), a specialist board for the listing of SMEs
- Signing on to the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative
- Launching the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS)
- Forming a partnership with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to develop Sustainability Disclosure Guidelines in the Nigerian Capital Marke
- Signing the UNGC Call to Action: Anti -Corruption and the Global Development Agenda
2. Community: The NSE is committed to supporting local communities through planned, shared-value social and economic investments that are aimed at creating much-needed opportunity and positive change. Key progress recorded include;
- Reaching more than 600 students from over 20 primary and secondary schools through the Global Money Week initiative
- Successfully launching the annual Corporate Challenge competition that drew more than 350 participants from over 40 companies together around the theme of cancer prevention and treatment
- Collaborating with other key financial institution to revitalize the Financial District in the Lagos State Central Business District.
- Launching of the inaugural Employee Giveback Month in December 2014 as a first phase to the Employee Volunteering Scheme.
3. Workplace: As a responsible employer, The NSE strives towards building a strong and consistent relationship with all our employees, built on mutual respect and dignity. We provide a safe work environment while ensuring professional development opportunities. The following was recorded:
- Had an average of 96% training participation over the last three years.
- Achieved 38% women in management positions.
- Introduced an employee award scheme, the CEO Awards, to recognise outstanding performance.
- Commenced Graduate Trainee programme to develop future leaders for the Nigerian capital market
4. Environment: The NSE is committed to conducting its business in a way that protects the environment. Through an environmental management approach, the Exchange has been able to:
- Achieve a 70% drop in power consumption by installing energy efficient LED lighting and computing infrastructure across the Head Office.
- Launch The NSE Recycles campaign and conducted organisational waste audit.
- Commenced an in-house recycling project whereby cans, glass & plastics are collected within our head office and recycled.
Commenting on the report Chief Executive Officer of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, said: “Sustainability is a critical component of our business strategy and publication of this inaugural report marks a significant step towards greater transparency and robust engagement with our stakeholders and the communities that we operate in. It is about responsible and inclusive investment services, increasing opportunity, preserving resources, improving lives, creating jobs and meeting the needs of the various stakeholders that we serve. We will continue to leverage our CSR platforms to share how, through efficient utilization of resources, support of our committed employees and partners, we are transforming lives and communities.”
Head, Corporate Services Division, NSE, Mr. Bola Adeeko said “we have entered a new era in our sustainability roadmap where disclosure and learning from what we do will be shared with our stakeholders and the world in general. Going forward, we plan to realign subsequent reports to the internationally recognised Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Sustainability Guidelines and implement a series of programmes that will ensure the market is adequately positioned to report on Environmental, Social and Governance performance; enable the NSE address community issues that target specific stakeholder categories, maintain our commitment to developing our people and promote environmental awareness amongst our partners and listed companies.
The maiden report can be downloaded from the Exchange’s website on www.nse.com.ng.
