Experts on Corporate Social Responsibility have tasked Nigerian banks to show more commitment to CSR initiatives and not substitute it for quality service delivery.
Findings revealed that most banks invested less than three per cent of their profits after tax on CSR projects, abandoning quality service delivery, which had been frustrating depositors.
For instance, First Bank of Nigeria Plc committed two per cent of its profit on CSR initiatives; GTBank spent only 0.6 per cent; Access Bank spent 1.3 per cent; First City Monument Bank, 0.7 per cent; Unity Bank, 0.9 per cent; and Diamond Bank, 2.5 per cent.
The experts argued that the percentages of commitment were still relatively low in the face of huge profits being made, especially when compared to CSR commitments of banks in other developing nations.
A lawyer with specialisation in corporate governance, Mr. Femi Oyeniran, alleged that some of the banks’ projects couldn’t be truly classified as CSR efforts.
According to him, such projects, when executed, are geared at further boosting an organisation’s profitability, instead of bringing succor to a given community. At best, he insisted that such projects could only be better described as philanthropy or giving back to the community.
He said, “Most of the firms only execute programmes that give them immediate returns and media mileage. When such efforts do not yield such fruits, they are usually not willing to commit further resources into them for continuity.
“An organisation that is truly committed to CSR should know that it starts from within the organisation, in terms of the quality of the services and products it offers the market. Most of their depositors are angry over poor service delivery and illegal deductions.”
Asked to examine CSR ventures in Nigeria, especially among banks, the Executive Director, Laura & Lloyds Communications Limited, Mr. Deji Oloyede, explained that there were indeed many organisations with intent to do CSR, but were largely misled or ill-advised, and as such, they were still stuck with philanthropy and charity.
He said, “A few of them retroactively integrate CSR but do little or nothing to report their activities. This is because they want to shy away from a false perception of increased scrutiny and expectations, which may be accompanied by more demands from stakeholders.
“CSR is about doing good, it should definitely not be at the expense of the quality of goods and services delivered to the customers. There is no amount of CSR project that can help project good public perception and image for any company offering poor services to its customers.
“I think it is a case of misplaced priority for banks to neglect their core responsibility to their customers or consumers, by delivering poor value and quality service and spending heavily on CSR. From a strategic PR point of view, I think it is better for such institutions to redirect such investment into ensuring that their customers are satisfied first, before thinking of buying goodwill through
CSR.”
