CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The field of Corporate Social Responsibility in business has become an almost unavoidable concern and focus for large organisations as well as small sized enterprise (SMEs). The British American Tobacco company Nigeria is no exception. In Nigeria, the British American Tobacco started an operational presence in 1912. Commercial growing of tobacco started in 1934 when British American Tobacco (BAT) decided to source tobacco leaf locally, this subsequently led to the establishment of a full scale factory in 1937 in Ibadan, Oyo state. However, tobacco cultivation first started in Ogbomoso, Iseyin and Ago Are, all in the present day Oyo state, before spreading to the Northern part of the country. By 1978, there were three operating factories located at Ibadan, Port-Harcourt and Zaria. (BAT: 2014).
However, the nose-diving of the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC), with the closure of Porthacourt factory 1983, and Ibadan factory closure in December 1995, leaving the failing Zaria factory for operation, there was another spirited attempt by BAT to launch cigarette production in Nigeria. (BATN 2014).
British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited was incorporated on July 11, 2000 and subsequently merged with the Nigerian Tobacco Company on November 6 of the same year. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of the British American Tobacco Group. Therefore, on
September 24, 2001 at an event tagged “Nigerian Investment Summit”, BAT signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government of Nigeria for an
investment of $150 million to build a state-of-the-art-factory in Ibadan, Oyo State. The investment started a process that has impacted all aspects of the tobacco industry, from leaf growing, through to the manufacture and distribution of tobacco products.
It is not a thing of surprise that within a short time of existence, agitations for social commitment to host communities by opinion leaders, agencies and members of host communities are on a high demand. The rising importance and attention of socially responsible investment, increasing consumer and environmental concern, and a growing political/ legislative environment have driven the British American Tobacco Company Nigeria to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes to satisfy the continuous needs of host communities.
