Conrad Clark Nigeria Limited, a management consulting firm, has said it is setting a new standard in the measurement of compliance and adoption of Enterprise Risk Management by organisations and risk managers in the country.
A statement from the Chief Executive, Conrad Clark Nigeria, Mr. Joachim Adenusi, said risk management involved more than the prevention of untoward events.
"Businesses need to learn to manage upside and downside risks effectively, without which they miss growth opportunities, and suffer declining performance and profitability," Adenusi said.
He pointed out that the effective management of risks was not a function that occurred within the risk management department.
The practice of ERM, according to him, has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008.
He observed that regulatory bodies across the world had adopted risk-based regulatory frameworks in a wide variety of sectors, including financial services, insurance and healthcare.
According to him, both the Central Bank of Nigeria and the National Insurance Commission, which regulate the financial services and insurance sectors, respectively, have led the way with risk-based regulation.
Adenusi, a former director of the Institute of Risk Management for seven years and United Kingdom/European Union Risk Manager of the Year 2009/10, said, "It has been interesting to see the enthusiasm with which organisations in Africa have adopted ERM, as well as the unique ways in which ERM has been implemented.
"Irrespective of the country, we have seen that companies that implement ERM properly and thoughtfully have a much higher positive impact on the bottom line and organisational reputation in the medium to long term."
The statement added that the Nigerian Risk Awards would celebrate very special organisations and individuals that were pioneering the practice of ERM in the country across a variety of industry sectors.
"In recent years, companies in Nigeria have gone the extra mile in the management of risks, and many of them have employed innovative and practical strategies to embed risk management, to drive cultural change and influence decision making. We are now inviting them to submit these examples for consideration for the awards," Adenusi said.
He added that the successful risk manager of the year 2013 would have an all-expense paid trip to attend one of the international annual risk management conferences in the UK or United States next year.
