Talking about sustainable development seems a misnomer from the Nigerian perspective and this is simply because all the indicators pointing towards a conscious or concerted drive towards the creation of a sustainable society seems to be pointing in the wrong directions.
Historically speaking, no society has amounted to much without consistently and please note that the word is consistency, driving an agenda which derives no pleasure from massive changes in policies that affects growth, one through which the livelihood of the ordinary Nigerian man or woman is grossly improved.
Economically speaking the indices that point towards economic growth all show signs of impressive improvement, that is until recently with the downward trend of the crude oil earnings and depletion of the nations foreign reserves, and it is true that in the last decade (especially with the socioeconomic reforms introduced by the entrance of a democratically elected government in 1998) we have seen major positive changes. We saw the influx of FDI which led to wealth creation, this time trickling down to the bottom of the pyramid, we got our debt cancelled and experienced massive reforms in different areas.
The NEEDS document painted a picture of hope, one which showed visionary leadership not perfect but yet still charting a concrete direction to lead us out of massive and unsustainable socioeconomic deprivation. The beauty of having such a document was to also see it come alive in real policy implementation. However, the fact still remains that a huge percentage of the Nigerian populace appears to be in a state of regressive socioeconomic status. The question then is how can we possibly ensure that there is sustainability in the sovereign state?
The successful and continuous development of a nation is dependent on several factors all of which must be activated in order to achieve a particular level of living standard for the general populace of any nation at any given point in time. Issues of quality health care, good infrastructure, sound education, employment generation, law and order must be tackled with aggressive intent which is bent on ensuring that people generally have access to the things that make good living, access to this must be by fair play and merit and not through a selective process that is based solely on who you know (or quota system, ethnic race) or who you are.
Years of self centred rule and a governance system that lacks the discipline of ensuring proper law and order plus a focus on self gratification as opposed to communal well being has left the nation in worst state than it ever was. The infrastructure especially as it concerns power generation and distribution, education, good roads, transportation, health care, provision of portable water supply is almost dead, leadership is comatose, point is right now there seems to be no hope for help. The living or aptly put survival state of the ordinary Nigerian man who earns meagre income such as selling his/her wares on the street is unimaginable, how people live from “hand to mouth” barely existing, living in appalling conditions with no health care to support and environment degradation that begs of attention which no one seems to be looking at. Question is who will help or who can help?
It seems oddly strange enough that the concept of corporate social responsibility has been painted in the same light as the issue of sustainable development, and this may not seem so far fetched to those who have perhaps turned away from the government to begin to look at the private sector to intervene in ordinarily what we have always known to be the purview of the state. However, there is some truth in this, if not in exactly the same way that it is currently been looked at.
There can be no sustainable development without effectively tackling these issues, the continued downward trend of living standards and development is simply a time bomb waiting to explode, the truth is that within any system whether democratic, military rule or otherwise you cannot continue to have some form of affluence in the midst of gross poverty – the danger and high possibility is that the people will turn against those that who say they rule and this is being seen today in a situation where people do not feel safe, where there is high crime rate. Lack of security is the worst thing that can affect development, it turns off foreign investors and stifles productivity in every way. There is simply no freedom and the high walls guarding homes and offices depict an environment where chaos as crept in.
What can the private sector do and why should they be concerned? The concept of CSR in its truest form simply means that organisations should be responsible in every way possible, it can be likened to an individual and this is why sometimes it is also referred to as corporate citizenship, who must in every way possible act responsibly within the society or situation in which it finds itself – therefore it must pay the right tax, not do any thing that contravenes the law, it should also act in a way and manner that will cause no harm to its neighbours – simple acts of responsibility which is carried out through corporate values and principles imbibed.
Looking at the economic terrain and livelihoods, it is not far fetched to see how much economic organisations affect everyone and also everything within the society – it affects education, it affects health, it affects the media, information, innovation, it affects the government, it affects the dynamics of relationships and the obligations that are borne by it. This has been shown in recent times through the effects of the global recession where almost everything has been turned upside because of the crash in Wall Street, in London, Tokyo and other developed nations. Families have been affected through job loss, spending habits have been changed both by people and the different governments, there are now a new set of priorities. This is the power of the private sector. It is therefore very easy to see how socio-political situations can be affected by economic woes or vice versa.
Looking inwards, here in Nigeria, it is very hard to see how far the private sector can go without good governance. Governance in this sense points to the government, however, with sound and sensible advocacy and right motives within civil society organisations much can be done.
The private sector is maverick, the sector is made up of organisations with professional individuals and systems that work within a set of rules and rules because it has been proven with the recent global economic downturn that the sector must work with proper governance or monitoring and not without. Complete deregulation or a completely free market simply leads to a throwing of caution to the wind and catastrophe in the making.
That the public sector in Nigeria for instance needs the skill and expertise that may be found in the private sector is without a shadow of doubt. Looking back at the intervention of the private sector professionals and their performance in the last administration, the likes of Charles Soludo and the bank mergers which brought some semblance of stability, accountability and the gradual re-emergence of the middle class, Dr Okonju Iweala and the debt cancellation, Mrs Due process, it is apt to say that skills transfer is very necessary for continued sustained development. This can be structured and facilitated by putting in place private public partnerships.
We may therefore, look at Corporate philanthropy in this regard, and not just as a give away to communities where it can not be sustained and where the impact will be little or nothing but as a highly strategic partnership between corporate organisations and organisations in the public sector especially government institutions such that there is a structured and systematic approach to supporting communities to develop.
In recent times we have seen a few organisations take up corporate social investment activities in different parts of the country. However, with no proper structure in place and very few having the genuine will power to make a real difference one can’t readily assess the impact of the investments. There is the perception that these organisations make more noise than act. These actions however can be harnessed to do good and support the nation in development. We can build and structure private public partnerships in a systematic way that can be used to empower and revolutionise different sectors of the economy.
There is no better time than now to begin to act, especially with the dwindling price of oil and a future which spells more doom for those economies that are overly dependent on petrol dollars. We need to act aggressively and focus on developing others areas – agriculture, youth empowerment, vocational training etc. If all the companies involved in community development investments will partner with the government and international organisations to zero in on developing agriculture in just a number of states in the next 5 years, do you know how much impact that will make and how these few areas could begin to make the nation self sustaining and even lead to greater and diversified export incomes? I believe this is an area worth looking at.
George
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