“The Purpose of the Corporation,” the latest work by Professor Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), was presented to the public at the 2026 KENNA-Lagos Business School Lecture, held at the school in Lagos Business last week. The book introduces a set of governance frameworks designed to move corporate purpose from a stated position into a measurable, operational standard.
Professor Ajogwu, Senior Partner at KENNA and Professor of Corporate Governance at Lagos Business School, introduced key governance frameworks at the lecture. The Four Layers of Corporate Purpose (stated, generic, expected, and refined) gives boards a structured basis for assessing where an organisation’s purpose actually stands, beyond what has been written into a mission statement.
Regarded as the Ajogwu Framework for Governance (AFG) model, it establishes ethics as the foundational multiplier across six core governance components: Behavioural Governance, Conscious Capitalism, Purpose-Driven Governance, Outcomes-Based Corporate Governance, Sustainability, and the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption. The model’s argument is precise: strengthen every other component, but if the ethical foundation is absent, the governance system will produce the appearance of purpose without its substance.
The Purpose Formula, another framework introduced, provides a method for evaluating whether a corporation creates genuine value for shareholders, people, and the planet, or extracts value from the stakeholders and systems it depends on.
Together, these tools address what Professor Ajogwu identified as the core governance failure of the current era: organisations that have declared purpose without the structural means to enact it.
The lecture was more than an intellectual gathering; it was a definitive call to action for corporate Africa.
For instance, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, captured the essence of purpose-driven integrity: “Regulation can mandate transparency, but it cannot manufacture integrity. Professor Ajogwu demonstrates that when a corporation’s purpose is its pulse, compliance ceases to be a burden and becomes a byproduct. This is the definitive guide for boards ready to stop managing for the regulator and start leading from within.”
For the Vice-Chancellor of the Pan-Atlantic University, Professor Enase Okonedo, who delivered the opening remarks and later reviewed the book, she examined the treatment of state-related enterprises (entities where government acts as both regulator and shareholder), noting that in such contexts, purpose must be explicit, and accountability must be built into governance from the start, not retrofitted after failures emerge.
Professor Olayinka David-West, Dean of Lagos Business School, welcomed attendees and observed that forums like the KENNA Public Lecture matter most for what they move participants to do after they leave.
On his part, President of the Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria, Mallam M. K. Ahmad, noted the book’s long-term institutional contribution: “Professor Ajogwu distils decades of scholarship into an accessible framework that will shape how we train directors and evaluate boards for years to come.”
The President and CEO of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, spoke to the continental stakes: “Across African markets, the consequences of corporations that have not thought deeply about their purpose are clear. Professor Ajogwu provides the analytical tools to correct that failure.”
Professor Mervyn E. King, SC, contributed the foreword, framing the book’s central concern simply: the corporation is among humanity’s most consequential inventions, and its impact depends entirely on the purpose assigned to it and the seriousness of the governance built around that purpose.
He described the four-layer framework as a diagnostic tool that identifies precisely where the gaps lie between what a company claims to be and what its conduct actually demonstrates.
The Executive Secretary/CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Dr Rabiu Olowo, underscored the investor’s perspective: “Professor Ajogwu’s framework helps us assess which companies are built to endure. The insight that purpose creates value for shareholders, people, and planet, through multiple forms of capital, is one every investor must internalise.”
In a nutshell, the Purpose of the Corporation regarded as a comprehensive examination of corporate purpose, governance, and stakeholder responsibility. It provides practical insights for board members, executives, regulators, governance professionals, scholars, and all who are invested in the evolving expectations of corporate governance.
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