By Emmanuel Ikechukwu Igbo
With the growing acceptance of the concept of sustainability, entities are becoming more conscious of the social and environmental impact of their corporate and economic activities and increasingly taking responsibility for the wellbeing and safeguard of the society and environment from which they benefit. However slow its acceptance is in today’s corporate space in Nigeria, the practice of sustainability is definitely on the rise with the potential to soar, if guided properly.
One of the success factors for these entities in the propagation of sustainability is the cultivation of its principles within their internal environment. This is evident in how they continuously improve and sustain working conditions and relationships in their internal environment, including welfare, health, safety and inclusiveness. Obviously, an effective way of propagating sustainability is to sow it within the entity and then sprout it to society. That way, the people of the organization will imbibe and sustain the practice across its generations.
Though various governments in Nigeria at different levels, have in recent times professed commitment to sustainable development goals which are expected to secure a sustainable future for all, it comes with serious challenges. Often times, the assessment of these challenges focus on the problems that the goals are meant to address such as poverty, infrastructural deficit, environmental degradation, etc, without adequate consideration of the soundness or otherwise of the governing space that supposedly drives developmental activities.
There is the need to shift focus to the conduct and capacity of the political and governing class that drives the governance of sustainability and sustainable development. Similar to the notion that a political party in a democratic system is expected to cultivate and practice internal democracy, the political and governing class which commits to ensuring sustainable development should progressively demonstrate a significant level of sustainability within its fold and discipline.
For instance, there is the need to examine the kind of politics that Nigeria’s political and governing class is bequeathing to its future generations. Is it the kind of value-stripped politics whose ultimate goal is to grab or retain political power by all possible means and at all public cost? Is it a jungle-styled system that awards the high and mighty the absurd privilege of immunity and impunity for political criminality and indecency? Is it a table of discord littered with dangerous cards of ethnicism, religious bigotry and other grave socio-political vices? Or is it a progressive and stable system that is ethically guided and guarded as a sacred vehicle for ultimately ensuring sustainable development of the people, environment and economy? Summarily, has the political and governing class conducted its current activities in a manner that guarantees meeting the future political and managerial needs of successive generations of that class, for the wellbeing of the public, soundness of the economy and safeguard of the environment?
The looming (and perhaps manifesting) danger is that future generations of political leaders and players will find examples and justification in today’s political criminality, incivility and misconduct and perpetuate same to the detriment of the Nigerian society. The effect would be that many sectors of development suffer under such an uncultured political system – the supposed superstructure that governs, controls and influences socioeconomic and political activities. This notion of adversity is not farfetched because poor and unethical political conduct and practices by the governing class are a red flag for poor governance outcomes and results. The political and governing class therefore needs the right attitude to refocus and redirect governance to the wellbeing of the people as its ultimate target.
The future of governance in Nigeria will therefore be guaranteed by a political and governing class that is highly conscious of the effects of its activities on the wellbeing and fortunes of posterity and the safeguard of the environment. This awareness and alertness should kindle in that class the urgency for the institution and sustenance of an ethical and professional culture within, for ensuring sustainability practices and engineering developmental gains on the outside. Indeed, every practice has its ethics for ensuring sustainability of its existence and effectiveness – the Nigerian society cannot afford a political and governing class that is deficient of good ethics and practices.
More so, considering that the governance structure in Nigeria presents high rewards for the governing class, it is ethically logical that such a class playing arguably in the most profitable endeavor in the country should return commensurate service and results to the society and environment that benefit it. This will not only complement but also encourage the growing sustainability practices that are increasingly observable with business and corporate entities in the country. It will also broaden the scope and growth of sustainable development within and contribute significantly to collective gains in terms of people, planet and profit.
•Igbo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Garki, Abuja