Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives in Nigeria

Louis Osemeke, Stephen Adegbite and Emmanuel Adegbite ()
Additional contact information
Louis Osemeke: London Business College
Stephen Adegbite: The University of Nottingham
Emmanuel Adegbite: University of Durham

Chapter Chapter 17 in Key Initiatives in Corporate Social Responsibility, 2016, pp 357-375 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria originated from the practices of Multinational companies (MNCs) operations in the extraction sectors of the Nigerian economy, especially in the oil sector. Their operations in communities resulted in CSR breaches such as oil spillages, gas flaring, militancy/community agitations and dumping of toxic waste materials in rivers. These activities destroyed the sources of income for the communities which are mainly farming and fishing, leading to widespread poverty and agitation from the communities. Cumulatively, these raised concerns about the role of businesses in the Nigerian society. Apart from the activities of MNCs, the failure by successive Nigerian governments to fulfil their mandatory obligation of providing social amenities for communities has made MNCs to become quasi-government with community depending and targeting MNCs to solve their economic problems. Government from all levels, have failed to offer solutions (such as building infrastructures, roads, medical equipment and schools). This is largely due to corruption, weak institutional framework, lack of transparency and accountability among public officials and bad governance among other issues. As a result, CSR initiatives in Nigeria have not been strategic, in a way which provides a thorough engagement of businesses in society and nation building, but have been culturally oriented, reflecting the religion, ethnicity, traditions and communal lifestyle of the people which involves sharing, togetherness and consensus. As such CSR initiatives in Nigeria have been mostly discretionary and philanthropic, characterised by donations, charities and community developments. Most corporate entities such as MNC and financial institutions are taking CSR initiatives seriously. Some have CSR departments and publish their environmental/CSR reports in addition to their annual reports. Their CSR initiatives involve mostly sponsorship in sports, beautification of roads, giving donations and project implementations. Some of these projects include the provision of borehole water, youth empowerment, schools and healthcare centres for the communities. This chapter will explore the perception of CSR as well as the key CSR initiatives in Nigeria, in order to strengthen the understanding of the concept as well as to encourage responsible behavior by large and small businesses in the country. In doing this, it will analyze the institutional determinants of effective CSR in Nigeria. This is a much needed study in Africa’s biggest economy.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility Activity; Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative; Corporate Social Responsibility Practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:csrchp:978-3-319-21641-6_17

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319216416

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-21641-6_17

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().