Date Published: 09/22/09
OF CSR, THE SERAs AND THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS IN NIGERIA By Sly Jeez
Let me begin by making a simple confession: I am not a fan of award shows; especially the Nigerian variant where awards have over time gone to undeserving recipients. A case in point has been the award of national honours to those who have taken turns to pillage the national treasury and run the country aground.
Last weekend, I broke my award apathy and disdain and not entirely by design: Ken Egbas, an old friend, had prodded me into attending the 3 rd edition of the annual Social Enterprise Report and Awards ( SERAs), a different kind of award show that recognises the role corporate organisations play in social giving and social transformation in Nigeria. Nominees are chosen from a healthy pack of organisations who submit entries for the awards. Projects are verified on the spot and by a SERA verification component. Next, a panel of judges goes through a rigorous process of choosing winners for all categories on the strength of evidence of all entries. This year’s showpiece held on the 17 th of September 2007 at the Shell Hall, Muson centre in Lagos. I am yet to figure out the right adjectives to describe what a classic award ceremony it turned out to be!
The SERAs riveted public attention on Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR); a term that simply means ‘giving back’ to a society from which business rakes in the profits. My years of writing and speaking against the injustices visited on the people of the Niger Delta by the oil companies over the years was brought to the fore on that cool evening last Friday. I had flipped through the award categories on the centre spread of the day’s program of events and was surprised to discover that not even a single oil company made the short list. On further enquiries, I was reliably informed that none submitted an entry. Sheer arrogance, I muttered under my breath as I let fly my Champagne Cork as the event host, Nollywood’s Kanayo .O. Kanayo went about his business of summoning award presenters to what was an exquisitely magnificent podium.
While I do agree that government has failed the people in terms of delivering infrastructure and trying to better the lives of the citizenry, businesses also have a perfunctory role to play in ameliorating the sufferings of the masses especially those within its immediate operating environments. The argument that the country’s peculiar operating business climate can only allow an organisation to do so little sounds as hogwash as saying one can no longer send one’s ward to school because fees have skyrocketed. Agreed, while the Nigerian government must come in for some stick as overhead costs of businesses hit the roofs no thanks to costs of maintaining generating plants and providing own security, businesses must continually seek ways to aid society—the same society without which they would be no businesses.
That was what the enchanting evening at the muson was all about. I did not grace the red carpet, but I sure enjoyed the cocktail. I met a few friends, had a chit chat with same and leafed through the Social Enterprise Report, a copy of which I had happily picked up at the accreditation stand and which I have found increasingly difficult to put down since Friday. Thorough, painstakingly researched and delivered in a reader friendly fashion, complete with factual information and data, the third edition of the Nigeria Social Enterprise Report, sure surpassed my expectation and would adorn my book shelf for a long time yet. It says so much about TruContact (the PR firm behind SERA), that in an age where alleviating the suffering of the poor no longer makes it to the front pages of our national dailies, the head of corporate organisations in their dapper attires and stylish gait could come together to appraise just how far they have come in driving societal development.
The hype before SERA must have been explicably low and not just because the mainstream media is yet to grapple with the issues but also because the folks at the head of corporate affairs in our organisations would rather bankroll a music award show or a Reality TV show than be seen to be interested in furthering the SERA cause. A sad state of affairs, you would agree.
I watched the EMMYs last night. It was grand. I enjoy watching the OSCARs on TV and the Grammys as well. But Nigeria’s SERAs still leaves a memorable impression.
And Mr Ken Egbas would not need to goad me into gracing the 4 th SERAs. This is after all the first event of its kind in Africa; a continent where poverty levels are still at record highs. Corporate Nigeria, Ken and I would want to be seen to be contributing to the development of communities.
See you at next year’s SERAs!
Sly Jeez is a Public Affairs commentator based in Abuja.
