Emmanuel Ozordi

This paper aims to examine the influence foreign and indigenous directors have on determining firms’ dividend payout structure. The population for this study is the fifteen deposit money banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Using a random sampling technique, a sample of 14 deposit money banks for the 2010 to 2017 period was taken. The total observations used for the work was 112. The study adopted a panel data methodology, which was estimated with a random-effect model. It was observed that a significant relationship exists between foreign directors and the dependent variable (dividend payout structure). The dividend payout structure by dividend per share of sampled firms was measured. This study will improve analysts and investors’ understanding of dividend policy by giving them insights in identifying the main determinants of dividend policy. For policy makers, this study reinforces the fact that good corporate governance is important to develop financial markets and improve the firm value.

Cash holding decision is a very crucial decision that strongly affects the performance of an organization. Corporate dynamism as a corporate governance tool was explored in this study in order to establish its relationship with cash holding decision in listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Board skill, female leadership, foreign directors, board ownership and directors’ compensation were used as proxies for corporate dynamism. A panel regression model was adopted in this study to examine the implication of corporate dynamism on cash holding decisions spanning six years from 2012 to 2017. Random sampling technique was employed in order to arrive at thirty firms out of thirty-seven listed manufacturing firms, which comprised industrial and consumer goods sector. Board ownership and the existence of foreign expatriates were found to have a significant effect on cash holding decisions. It is concluded that directors with significant holdings tend to be more aggressive towards activities that enhance the performance of a firm, one of which is ensuring that optimal level of cash is held at a particular point in time in order to guide against liquidity problems, which may be caused by overtrading or even keeping excess idle cash, which is supposed to be invested in profitable ventures. Also, the fact that the existence of foreign expatriates will affect cash holding decisions, which may be justified by the fact foreign expatriates are displaying expertise because of diverse experience that they have been able to gain from different parts of the world.

This paper aims to explore the impact of gender diversity on firms’ sustainability responsiveness in ensuring collective drive toward achieving sustainable development goals (agenda) for Nigeria. This study explored female engagement from three major platforms, namely women as directors, management team leaders, and female workforce. The data used to conduct this study were derived from the annual reports of the sampled banks spanning through the period of 2013–2016. However, while data for this study were analyzed using EViews statistical tool, the sustainability reporting data were ascertained using the content analysis method. The outcome of this study depicts that female directors, female workforce, and women in the management team all had an adverse and positive association with sustainability reporting. However, this association was all insignificant. This further buttresses that gender diversity was not the major driving force behind the sustainability reporting of the sampled banks in Nigeria. This is because the sector is highly regulated. Hence, the study recommends that notwithstanding the outcome, in attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs), there is a need to have more female representation on the strategic position of authority.

This study explored the influence of the governance cost on financial service efficiency in Nigeria. The recurrent collapse of reputable companies and banks due to agency problems have motivated this investigation. The study empirically sampled 40 financial service firms from the 50 firms registered on the stock market. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. Data was collected using secondary sources from the firms’ annual reports to determine the influence the governance cost has on Nigeria’s financial service efficiency for nine years (2012–2020). Also, the study utilized the Panel Tobit regression to test the hypothesis. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to ascertain the aggregate governance cost, and the proxies were directors’ fees, auditors’ fees, CEO compensation, and chairman fee. At the same time, financial service analysis was derived using the Input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique under the constant return to scale (CRS) assumption. Consequently, findings from the study show a significant and positive influence of governance costs on the efficiency of financial services. The study, therefore, concludes that the current governance cost of the sampled firms drives efficiency within the sampled firms, and increasing the governance cost, based on the reviews on corporate governance structures, will not harm the efficiency of financial services. However, the consistent increase over time will harm efficiency. Thus, the study recommends an internal balance on the pay structure within the financial services.

Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge Covenant University for solely providing the platform for this research and for fully sponsoring the publication of this research work.