Bridging the Gap Between the Risk Management Committee and the Financial Performance of Listed Firms in Nigeria

This study investigates the relationship between Risk Management Committee (RMC) characteristics and financial performance among listed firms in Nigeria for the period 2011–2025. Motivated by the persistent governance weaknesses and financial instability observed in Nigeria's corporate landscape, the study adopts an ex-post facto research design, drawing on a balanced panel dataset of 148 firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). Four RMC attributes—size, independence, financial expertise, and meeting frequency—are examined against three measures of financial performance: Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Tobin's Q. Employing Fixed Effects (FE) and Random Effects (RE) panel regression models, with robust standard errors corrected for heteroscedasticity and serial correlation, the study controls for firm size, profitability, leverage, growth opportunities, board composition, ownership structure, CEO tenure, CEO compensation, risk appetite, industry risk, market volatility, industry norms, GDP growth rate, inflation rate, and interest rates. Results reveal that RMC independence, expertise, and meeting frequency exert statistically significant positive effects on all three performance proxies. RMC size is positively associated with performance at conventional significance levels. These findings are robust to alternative estimation strategies and post-estimation diagnostics. The study contributes to the thin body of RMC-performance literature in an emerging African economy and carries direct implications for regulators, boards, and investors seeking to strengthen corporate governance frameworks in Nigeria.