• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Igazeuma Okoroba (PhD), General Manager/Head Sustainability, Pan-Africa, Dangote Group

Media urged to focus on environmental sustainability policies of firms

Igazeuma is an experienced sustainability strategy leader with expertise in remodelling CSR for business sustainability, currently driving cost-effective, continuous improvement processes in Pan Africa. Her career purpose is to transform industry through ESG-driven innovation in emerging economies, to achieve business growth and sustainable livelihoods. She held diverse roles in strategy, corporate governance and international development project management, leading functions in manufacturing, energy, technology, communications and civil society over the past 20 years.

Igazeuma is presently managing multidisciplinary and multicultural teams of 14 cement plants across Africa. She mentors a group of African Women in Cement which aims to inspire women in the manufacturing industry to aspire for strategic roles in industry. She supports civil society and academia as a volunteer systems manager and academic reviewer. Her research interests lie in development sociology, human geography, climate action, energy transition and circular economy. Her published work explores mechanisms through which social, spatial, and temporal contexts shape corporate outcomes in African societies.

On water crises, she sees it as an opportunity for SDG 6 in sub-Saharan Africa. According to her, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 40% of 783 million people who are without access to clean water. Evidence from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria show that the disconnect between community needs and state priorities is responsible for the poor state of water provision in Africa.

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She says Sustainable Development Goal 6 calls for clean water and sanitation for all. According to her, this goal is relevant in advocating for increased investment for improving sanitation and access to drinking water in SSA. “Goal 6 also applies to the management of freshwater ecosystems and sanitation facilities at the local level” she said.

Apart from Seychelles which is on track in maintaining its achievement of goal 6, Igazeuma says other SSA countries are reported to be stagnating or moderately improving.

Okoroba believes that the city of Lagos has been on massive campaigns to promote its vision for the state to become a centre for global business as a way to attract investors. She however is of the opinion that, to many who have heard about the government’s ‘strides’ towards making it a megacity but have never lived in the two major parts of Lagos, it would be difficult to imagine the state as what it truly is.

“I have experienced this city as nothing but a neighbourhood of over-crowded slums in the Mainland cohabiting with luxurious estates on the Island. In this sense, Lagos depicts perfectly the image of inequality.” Igazeuma said.