Recent corporate failures in the Nigerian Financial Sector and the resultant effect on the market performance of
listed firms necessitated the review of the existing codes of corporate governance in Nigeria. The research study
therefore explored the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and market performance using four
corporate governance mechanisms variables as reviewed in the SEC Code 2011 and four market performance
variables. The four independent variables are audit committee independence, audit committee financial expertise,
board independence and ownership structure while the market performance indicators are Share Price (SP),
Volume of Trade (VOT), Market Capitalization (MC) and Earnings per Share (EPS). Empirical analysis was
carried using correlation, regression and two independent T-tests. The result showed that there is a positive
significant impact of audit committee independence, audit committee financial expertise, board independence as
revised in the SEC Code 2011 on SP, VOT, MC and EPS. This study recommends that there is need for Policy
makers to strengthen the implementation of every recommendation contains in the SEC Code 2011 to further
stabilize the performance of listed firms and also repose the confidence of investors both local and foreign investors
in the capital market. It is recommended that the provisions as contained in the SEC Code 2011 be backed up by
law to ensure strict compliance
