CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO STUDY
As a result of the quest of industrialization and sustainable development in Nigeria and the attendant improvement in the quality of life of the populace has taken its toll on the environment (Aina, 1998). There is widespread interest in the way in which companies conduct themselves, including the environmental and social impact of their activities. Companies and those who govern their affairs do not operate in a value-free zone and their activities are and should be open to evaluation and criticism. CAMAC’s report on the social responsibility of corporations, is aimed at providing a pathway through the mass of material and opinions on the subject as well as respond to questions raised in the terms of reference from the government.
While largely focused on the conduct of business corporations, the report notes that issues of social responsibility also arise for other entities, including public sector, non-profit and unincorporated bodies. Companies operate in a shifting market place of legal requirements, consumer preferences, employee views, investor sentiments, community attitude and other pressures where social and environmental issues arises in relation to a companies business, they need to be managed, as do other issues that may infringe on business success or failure.
According to COMAC’s (Richard St. John), … Companies should be judged on the way they conduct themselves in the context of pursuing their business aims and their overall economic and other contribution and impacts. This includes the way they deal with environmental or social issues that relate to their business. They should not be expected to direct their efforts to social ends regardless of the relevance of those ends to their own business. Therefore, the report suggests that a company will be socially responsible if it operates in an open and accountable manner, uses its resources for productive ends, complies with relevant regulatory requirement and acknowledges and takes responsibility for the consequences of its action.
The effect of different industrial sector activity on the environment vary enormously but its an incontrorotible statement that damage is being done to the environment world-wide.
Environmental concerns rarely terms an integral part of development plans, particularly in Third World Countries like Nigeria. The realization that sustainable development can only be achieved through an interdependence between economic growth and environmental quality has compelled some governments to now regard the environment as a valued and an integral part of economic growth. Subsequently, environmental problems are now at the forefront of international and domestic as well as local government’s agenda.
However, environmental policies are rarely enforced in some Third World Countries. The inability of government to implement a stringent environmental regulations is compounded by the fact that the goal of most corporate organizations are purely economic. The attention is devoted to their social responsibilities.
The environment is being endangered because economic policy stresses increase in production, but neglects to account for the depletionof natural resources and damage to the environment. The continued damage to the tangible natural environment and health of the exploitation of crude oil and natural gas.
These activities have led to numerous spillages, gas flaring, pollution, flooding, coastal erosion, earth tremors, etc. all of which constitute a threat to the people survival. The result has been a rapid decline in the quality of life of the people, many of them forced out of their traditional occupation of farming, fishing and the production of palm oil and kernels. There is need for organizations and government to reorganize “defensive expenditure” to protect or restore the environment and “user cost” for the depletion and the degradation of natural resources as part of their production cost.
