Stakeholders discuss how Nigeria can achieve a resilient system for sustainable development

By Medinat Kanabe

Some stakeholders in Nigeria's private sector have met to brainstorm on what private companies can do to support the nation in achieving a resilient system for sustainable development.

L-R: Mrs Atanya, Ms Sholotan, Ms Famakinde, Ms Awe, and Mr Katiivu after the meeting.

The stakeholders including the Lagos Business School (LBS), Sustainability Centre, IHS (Nigeria) Limited, Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI), Africa and others also proffered solutions to identified issues. 

Speaking during the meeting which is also a pre-event to the annual International Sustainability Conference (ISC) coming up tomorrow, the Director, of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, IHS, 

Cima Sholotan encouraged the attendees to move past problems into action.  

“We need to think bigger and long term. From an approach to staving off hunger to effective end-to-end value chain solutions that also provides much-needed services to the vulnerable population. We need to see resilience as a win-win outcome for businesses and other stakeholders to pursue together," she said. 

Themed “The Role of the Private Sector in Building Resilient Systems,” the meeting, which drew sustainability professionals and important stakeholders, also included informative speed talks and interactive sessions on Sustainability Disclosure and Food Security in Nigeria. 

Less than 200 companies include sustainability in their programmes

Delivering a session on ‘Sustainability Disclosures in Nigeria’, CEO of NGX Regulation, Tinuade Awe highlighted the significance of embedding sustainability into fundamental business operations in Nigeria. 

She said less than 200 companies in Nigeria include sustainability in their programmes adding that plans are on ground to make sustainability mandatory for all companies.

"Since the sustainability guidelines went into effect in 2018, businesses in Nigeria have struggled to implement sustainability regulating principles. Although the adoption rate remains low at 10%, the private sector has made some headway in implementing sustainable guiding concepts over the years," she said.

Leading the second conversation on food security, Value Chain Adviser at GIZ’s Nigeria Competitiveness Project (NICOP),  Opeyemi Famakinde said that NICOP has focused on large, medium, and small-scale businesses. 

We want to strengthen farmers' and buyers' relationships to ease access 

Delivering her presentation themed ‘Answering Nigeria’s Food Security, she said there is also a focus on strengthening farmers' and buyers’ relationship and ease of access. 

She underlined the role of building resilient food systems and addressing the food security challenges in Nigeria. 

On his part, the Director, GRI, Mr Douglas Kativu who spoke on harnessing the potential of sustainability reporting in building resilient systems, stressed the need for businesses to move past a culture of compliance to driving long-term change. 

He also appreciated the role of LBS in developing leaders to drive sustainable businesses in Africa.  

Think sustainability

Meanwhile, Mrs Oreva Atanya, Head, Sustainability, LBS said LBS’s goal is to support the private sector organisations to be more sustainable internally and in terms of their external footprints. 

“We hope businesses take the learnings from this meeting to re-evaluate and improve their approach to sustainability and CSR in a way that creates a more positive impact for the society, their stakeholders and shareholders as well”

"The impacts of climate change, economic volatility, COVID-19 Pandemic, rising levels of poverty, and humanitarian crises, have revealed vulnerabilities in essential systems. 

"From food supply and energy to healthcare and transportation infrastructure, there have been unprecedented negative impacts on the value and supply chains on which society depends. 

"These are all realities in the Nigerian business environment today. The shocks hit hard on businesses, but by applying ‘sustainability’ thinking and actions, private sector organisations can drive solutions that will have a positive impact on society, value chains, staff, customers and their business performance as well," she said.

About the meeting

The stakeholder meeting is a pre-engagement leading up to LBS’ Annual International Sustainability Conference (ISC) which will be held tomorrow. The ISC is an annual dialogue-to-action forum that brings various stakeholders together to advance sustainable development through business. The platform shares knowledge and inspires business leaders to embed sustainability and responsible business practices in their strategy and operations to result in a positive impact not only on business performance but on society as well.  

This year the conference will focus on the theme ‘Building Resilient Systems for Sustainable Development and the forum is co-convened with the support of GRI Africa, IHS (Nigeria) Limited and Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI). Participants can register to attend at https://bit.ly/2022_ISC