Host communities stifling corporate social investment

Though businesses pro- vide social infrastruc- ture and investment to stem poverty and steer development, host commu- nities frustrate these efforts with tribal and other primor- dial sentiments, according to experts at this year’s Busi- nessDay conference held on Tuesday in Lagos.

Findings show that busi- nesses invest billions of naira annually on community- based projects to increase opportunities for wealth creation and youth empow- erment. Africa’s largest economy and biggest oil producer (Nigeria) has failed to reap the benefit with nearly half of its population living below the poverty line.

“Most times, when you go to a state for corporate social investment (CSI) projects, you face the issue of the place the project will be located because most of the communities fight among themselves with regards to the location of the proj- ect,” said Seyi Ashade, head, corporate affairs, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), at the conference.

“We face a lot of external challenge in the execution of projects,” she added, not- ing that the bureaucratic process was also a challenge for CSI.

According to the UN, poverty is a condition char- acterised by severe depriva- tion of basic human needs including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Nigeria youth unemploy- ment is as high as 50 percent, with 63 percent of the total population living below $1 dollar per day.

“There must be a connec- tion between the organisa- tions and our universities to empower youth and reduce poverty,” Ferdinand Ad- imefe, founder, Imaginari- um Creative Group, keynote speaker at the event, said, saying “businesses should be able to define their objec- tives so that the entire com- munities can benefit from the projects.”

Amadi Iheukwumere, manager, conferences, rep- resenting Frank Aigbogun, publisher, BusinessDay, said “public policy is not enough to cater for youth empower- ment and poverty reduction, so, there is need for private investors to come in and give back to the society in which they operate.

“With 50 percent of youth looking for employment show that the public sector cannot address this issued alone.”

JOSEPHINE OKOJIE