EVALUATING GOVERNANCE PRACTICES AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS IN NIGERIA: ATTENDANT RESPONSE TO FRAUD PREVENTION AND RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ERA

Abstract

Despite the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic onslaught on global economies that has negatively undermined the financial prowess of major markets in United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Austria, Canada, Spain, Italy, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana et cetera, leading to loss of trillions of US Dollars, the need to uphold responsive financial sustainability among nations and businesses has been largely impaired by the prevalence of fraud, cyber crimes, mismanagement of scarce finance resources and external loan funds, bad leadership and poor oversight. Amid unprecedented increase in job layoffs, salary cuts, expenses cuts, robotic technologies embrace, bonuses suspension, promotions postponements, remote working embrace, price hikes, high inflation rate et cetera which have all culminated into heightened fraud occurrences and consequent fraud losses, fraud risk appear not to be proactively considered a top priority by the government and management of businesses in critical challenging COVID-19 pandemic economic downturn period as this. Deploying a descriptive approach, the study expressly evaluates the threat of COVID-19 pandemic upsurge on public governance and businesses with extant emphasis laid literally on attendant responses to fraud prevention and fraud risk management in Nigeria. Conceptualized schematic frameworks and widely recognized current statistics were utilised and evaluated to maximally envisage reliable response measures to fraud risk factors in the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic business environment in Nigeria. The study concludes by proposing possible actions (way forward) for policies development towards rescuing Nigeria and its business environment from the prevailing unfavourable situations..