Corporate Social Responsibility in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: In Who’s Interest?

Abstract

Business organizations are expected to meet certain social obligations in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the Niger Delta region of Nigeria oil Multinational corporations (MNC) have not been left out in this regards. There have been remarkable changes in the host communities as most of the facilities provided by the MNCs have either been absent, insufficient or dysfunctional. Despite the activities of the MNCs, the opinion and attitudes of the host communities portray an act of antagonism rather than support for the MNCs giving rise to an imaginary gap between what is done and how it is perceived. The questions then are; what could be responsible for such attitude? And in whose interest is CSR by the MNCs. This paper examines the host communities’ perception of CSR initiatives by the MNCs. The study is based on analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with the host communities in the empirical section, as well as a review of related literature. From the stakeholder perspective, this paper argues that the practical difficulty encountered by the MNCs in achieving the desired outcome from CSR programs is due to lack of understanding and consideration of the contractual relationship between the host communities and the MNCs. The results show that the stakeholders' perspective deserves huge attention for those MNCs considering the keys to business success. The paper concludes that CSR initiatives cannot be successful without proper need assessment from the affected stakeholders whose interest ought to be protected. This paper contributes to a proactive rather than a reactive approach to CSR initiatives