When the first non-racial elections were conducted in South Africa in 1994, Bishop Desmond Tutu – one of the arrowheads of the African National Congress charged the Africans thus: You are powerful people. You can make this world a better place where
business decisions and methods take account of right and wrong as well as profitability….You must take a stand on important issues: the environment and ecology, affirmative action, racism and sexism; the arms race, poverty, the obligations of the affluent west…” This charge heralded the drawing-up of a development blueprint that is being referred to as “Black Empowerment Programme”. Although, the Black Empowerment Programme has not been so successful, Desmond Tutu’s epochal statement unleashed the creative potentials of the Blacks in South Africa to hold their own against their former oppressors.
From that time on, the ANC government was emphatic that corporate social responsibility should be fully entrenched in the work ethics of all multinational corporations in South Africa. This was done not to overthrow the bourgeois class but to consolidate on the gains of democracy and economic justice, which are inseparable elements of the democratization process. The only place where corporate social responsibility is treated with levity is the Niger Delta Region, where multinational corporations operate in a laissez-faire manner because of the exploitative laws of the land such as the Land Use Act of 1978 as amended and the Petroleum Act of 1969 as enshrined in the Constitution.
Since the Amnesty Programme was introduced by the Federal Government in 2009, relative peace has returned to the oil-rich Region. This is borne out of the fact that Nigeria has not only met her OPEC quota of oil production; Nigeria has often burst her ceiling but while the MNC’s declare fantastic profits, the socio-economic and environmental conditions of the host communities have not improved. Granted the General Memoranda of Understanding (GMOUs) are being implement here and there, the MNC’s have not provided any comprehensive framework for stakeholders buy-in because they have neglected their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – which simply means the obligation of an organisation to act in such a manner as to serve the interest of its stakeholders.
In the main, corporate organizations seek to maintain good relationship with their host communities or customers. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is conceptualized as helping "an organization to achieve a balance between economic, environmental and social imperatives, address stakeholder expectations and demands and sustain shareholder value. The World Bank defines CSR as the “commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, local community and society at large to improve the quality of life, in ways that are both good for business and good for development.
Corporate Social Responsibility is not obligatory but predicated on the belief that people do their best in a healthy harmonious work environment. There is also the belief that organisations function better when located in economically vibrant, socially stable and environmentally clean communities. Moreover, organisations realize high rates of performance and gain in momentum when they treat their natural environment with respect. This also impacts on the organisation’s integrity and reputation.
Within the context of the Niger Delta Region, NDR, CRS implies the inherent responsibilities imposed on Multinational oil corporations to develop their host communities. This could take the form of youth training programmes, provision of physical infrastructure, social amenities and mining the oil resources in a sustainable manner. CRS involves the needs of people within and outside the interest of the corporations. The variegated interests refer to the various stakeholders such as Government, people of host communities, employers of labour and others whose activities are directly or indirectly affect the environment.
Under the leadership of Hon. Kingsley Kuku, the Amnesty Programme has recorded impressive strides, as thousands of Niger Delta Youths are scattered in Africa, Europe and the Americas to acquire skills that would re-engineer and re-generate the economy of the Region. Although the AP was initiated by the Federal Government, there is room for non-state actors such as the MNCs to contribute to the final phase of its implementation.
The MNCs and other non-state actors can contribute in more ways than one. The MNCs are powerful non-state actors who can garner and muster-up international support and sponsorshipof some of the educational programmes mounted under the Amnesty Programme.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC; Texaco, Chevron and Totalfinal-Elf can partner the Amnesty Programme by way of influencing world bodies such as the agencies of the United Nations i.e. the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO and the Food and Agricultural Organisation to assist in underwriting the bill of building capacities for Niger Delta Youths. The agencies, depending on the area of expertise, can also provide the manpower to impart skills on the youths.
Another strategy the MNCs can adopt is to pay the allowances of trainees abroad, which is a crucial component of the Amnesty Programme. MNCs can also concentrate on funding postgraduate scholarships abroad under the Amnesty Programme. Perhaps, the most significant phase of the AP is that of providing job opportunities for the youths or empowering the skilled youths to be self-employed when they would have been done with their training.
MNCs can keep a quota of available job opportunities from those who have acquired the requisite skills for the oil and gas industry. Just as SPDC has most of the filling Stations in Johannesburg, MNCs can contribute to the AP by establishing Small and Medium Scale Industries and use the trained experts in entrtepreneurship to manage them. The profit generated from such industries may be shared on equity basis until such as time that the MNCs recoup substantial part of the capital invested in the business. In addition, MNCs can also use agencies such as the UNDP to train few persons for managerial assignments in the turbulent business environment we have found ourselves since the global economic recession began.
If the MNCs buy the option of establishing new industries, such factories should be related to manufacturing or the delivery of certain services relevant to the Niger Delta Environment. In which case, a social audit may be used to systematize the reporting system on the accomplishments of the industries especially with regard to what they are contributing to Corporate Social Responsibility.
The concept of the Amnesty Programme as a tool of empowerment is too large to be left alone in the hands of the Federal Government alone; it requires multi-stakeholder buy-in and ownership to create the much-needed spill-over benefit. Already, the relative peace in Niger Delta Region is sufficient evidence the MNCs to be involved. I also implore the driver of the Amnesty Programme Hon. Kingsley Kuku to explore every available avenue of partnering with the oil majors. Whether viewed as part of their CSR contributions to the on-going peace – building process or as an instrument of youth empowerment, the MNCs owe the Region a moral obligation to establish leadership integrity for stakeholders’ buy-in. Irrespective of the existing laws of the land, they cannot afford to ignore the momentum gained by the Amnesty Programme under the Jonathan administration, and the earlier the oil majors establish the requisite ethical leadership the better for industrial harmony, and corporate Social Responsibility integrity of the MNCs.
Idumange John, is a member of Chartered Institute of Administration
No comments:
Post a Comment