By Eberechi Obinagwam
Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Director-General, Adewale Oyerinde, has emphasised the shift from profit-driven business to responsible entrepreneurship.
At the ILO-NECA awareness raising workshop for enterprises on the ILO MNE declaration to promote sustainable and responsible business practices in Lagos on Monday, Oyerinde highlighted the importance of sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations for businesses seeking local and international growth.
He said: “The conversation is moving away from doing business for profit reasons. There is a direction towards doing business responsibly. Our desire is to join the global community in the context of doing business responsibly. It is that desire that prompted us to leverage on the partnership that we have on the International labour organisation to organise this very workshop.”
The DG said it is an awareness workshop,”Responsible business conduct is what is gaining grounds now, people have known the importance of CSR. There is a sustainability that is now becoming a major concern and then there is an issue of ESG, which has become a major issue for any business that is intending to grow not only locally but also internationally. For us, it is creating the leverage for our member companies so that there are not cut up within the challenge of sustainability.”
The event was organised in collaboration with the ILO, the International Organization of Employers (IOE), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and multinational enterprise representatives.
The workshop gave enterprises the opportunities to explore ways to further promote responsible business conduct for the achievement of decent work in the national context and examine how the MNE declaration and responsible business conduct instruments and initiatives can be useful. To also present the services provided by the ILO Help desk for business for enterprises in order to achieve a decent work.
The ILO’s MNE refers to the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, also known as the MNE Declaration. This declaration provides guidelines for multinational enterprises, governments, and employers’ and workers’ organizations, focusing on areas such as, employment, training, conditions of work and life and industrial relations.
It aims to promote responsible business practices, social justice, and economic development. It was negotiated and adopted by governments, workers’, and employers’ organizations, and is regularly updated to reflect changing social and economic conditions.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) uses the MNE Declaration to assess the impact of multinational enterprises on social and economic development, sharing information with governments, workers’, and employers’ organizations to promote best practices.
Benedetta Nobile of the ILO’s Multinational Enterprises and Responsible Business Conduct Unit, also emphasised the importance of stakeholders collaboration in ensuring that businesses respect human rights.
She highlighted the need for policy coherence, stating that all stakeholders must work together to align business operations with global human rights standards.
NECA’S DG, noted that business and human rights is a global conversation they align with, “It is doing business and knowing how it affects human rights.”