Women now hold 31.1% of board seats in Nigeria’s 30 largest listed companies in the 2025 PWR Advisory NGX-30 Board Gender Diversity Scorecard, ranking higher than the 27.3% average.
Why this matters: This signals growing investor confidence in the performance of diverse teams and creates room for stronger regulatory interventions to sustain women in leadership. If sustained, Nigeria could become a regional model for gender-balanced corporate boards, amplifying calls for the WIL coalition’s 35% representation goal.
State of Play
- Of the 30 listed companies in the NGX-30, 53.3% have at least 30% representation in the board, and 5 are being led by female CEOs.
- This progress mirrors shifting social sentiment: according to the 2024 Reykjavík Index for Leadership, 64% of Nigerians say they are comfortable with women as corporate leaders — a reflection of evolving trust in women’s economic influence.
- While women represent half of Nigeria’s labor force, only 29% reach the C-suite. The recent surge in female board appointments may signal a maturing pipeline, and a test of whether board-level diversity translates into operational power.
Key Finding: Among the top 5 companies with the highest female board representation, TransCorp experienced 190% growth in net profit from 2023 to 2024, while Lafarge Africa saw 107.4% growth. This performance demonstrates that diverse leadership correlates with strong business outcomes.