Corporate social responsibility

CSR in the Nigerian context is gaining corporate and government support for the purpose of improving social and environmental welfare. Both domestic and foreign firms have already implemented CSR programs. Companies like United Bank of Africa, Airtel, Glo Mobile, Astro Soccer Nigeria, Shell, Total, and Etisalat among others have functional CSR programs (Banerjee, 2007, p.53). In general, the oil industry has relatively neglected CSR practices. Mechanisms to deal with oil spillage poorly account for the social and environmental implications of oil spillages in Nigeria. The ExxonMobil case of November 2012 is the most recent example of neglected CSR, where an oil spill from the facility’s pipeline spread for several kilometers before being contained.
Whilst there are numerous Nigerian firms with operational CSR practices, others are yet to formulate or implement them, and others are working on getting them operational across Nigeria. Hopkins (2012, p.162) contends that Nigerian SMEs and NGOs are lagging behind in terms of the CSR pursuit. Orun Energy Limited, A3&O, New Nigeria Foundation, and Wangonet are some of the non-CSR firms in Nigeria (Idowu & Filho, 2009, p.208). However, CSR advocacy is persistently being pursued in the country, and some of these non-CSR firms will catch up sooner or later.