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Otuoke
Church: Corporate Social Responsibility
By
Charles Ikedikwa Soeze
charlessoeze@yahoo.ca
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a
relatively new concept in the business world (introduced in the 1980s)
has been variously defined by those people who believe in the concept
and those who do not. In other words, those who believe in the concept
see it as the “responsibility to plan and manage an organization’s
relationship with all those involved in or affected by its activities.
It therefore means that they view CSR as an excellent opportunity to
‘bank’ goodwill in the community. They view CSR as a social
investment. They classify social responsible companies as those who
refrain from taking actions that might be perceived by the publics as
insensitive or callous”.
However, those who hold contrary views
about CSR say that a business cannot be “responsible”, only people can
have responsibilities. They see CSR as loss of accountability to
shareholders. Such people warned that companies should stick to their
business which is business itself. To those people, business is
socially responsible in its profit-making function.
In India, the Tata group’s commitment
made substantial contributions to the community, and this led to the
formation of the Tata Council for Community Initiatives (TCCI). The
mission statement of the Council reads: “We will evolve a common
direction for community development programmes from the diverse
activities of all Tata business units through sharing in the
participatory networking. We will strive together constantly to
strengthen our professional and organizational abilities, to fulfill
our commitments towards society at large”. TCCI demonstrates the
groups abiding concern for society.
In line with the Declaration of the
Council on Social Responsibility on the 14th of December
1999, the community is central to the core values adhere to by the
Tata Group. Tata community programmes aim at building trust and
improving quality of life. It facilitates sustainable change. Tata
believes that the community gives them valuable opportunities to learn
among many others. In the words of its chairman, Mr. Raton N. Tata “We
are not taking community development initiatives for propaganda or
visibility. We are doing it for the satisfaction of knowing we have
really achieved and given something to the community in which we are
working. We are doing it because we really wish to do it by choice”.
In the light of the above and if we
really understand the concept of CSR, the reported renovation works on
the Anglican Communion at Otuoke by Gitto Constrolizioni Generali
Limited (GCG), an Italian construction company doing business in the
country should not raise eyebrows. In other words, there should be no
need for hullabaloo and brouhaha. It is all about CSR and nothing more
or less. A church, like the Anglican Communion is not for only one
person. It is for the entire country because any person can worship
there including people of the community. It is not an estate built for
a particular person, it is a church renovated within the area of the
company’s operation. Even if the President and Commander In Chief is
the resident pastor, reverend or general overseer, he can still not be
held liable. In this connection therefore, Section 6 of the Code of
Conduct for Public Officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999
Constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws
of the Federation of Nigeria, should not apply. It is crystal and
abundantly clear that Mr. President never asked for it, it is all
about CSR, which is the prerogative of any business outfit. The
problem in the Niger Delta Region, the goose that lays the golden eggs
for the nation is that many companies operating within this area have
not been taking CSR seriously; as a result, we have youth’s
restiveness, aggressiveness among others. Some of these companies
believe in cosmetic projects that will not benefit the region in any
way. It seems to me that there is no conflict of interest on the part
of Mr. President because of renovation works carried out in a church
at his home town. We all should be grateful to the company and avoid
condemnation so as to encourage other companies operating in different
places in Nigeria to emulate the Italian firm, Gitto Construzioni
Generali Nigeria Limited (GCG) to do more. There should be no need for
unprogressive statements by some Nigerians. It does not require any
explanation it is all about CSR. If we really understand CSR, it is
therefore baseless and most inappropriate to call for the president’s
impeachment or resignation. What I think and believe we should all be
doing is to pray so that companies that operate in Nigeria should
continue to take CSR seriously and not opening foreign accounts for
private individuals and later they will come and show their
irresponsibility through one panel of enquiry and start talking bla
bla. We have been witnesses to such things. It was not a gift to
Mr. President as a person but to a community and was done under CSR.
Since we are in democracy, opposition parties and others have the
right to make their statements in any situation that is not clear to
them, but that not withstanding, we should be jealously and rigorously
guided and guarded in order not to use our words to destroy our
nascent democratic structure thereby denting and denigrating our
nation’s image locally, nationally and internationally.
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*Charles Ikedikwa Soeze, Head,
Academic and Physical Planning (A&PP), Petroleum Training Institute (PTI),
Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria.
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