Forbes Ranks Lafarge fourth Among Top 50 CSR Firms
Forbes Africa has ranked Lafarge Africa Plc the fourth-best Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Company in Nigeria for the year 2019.
The Forbes Africa Awards ranking is a culmination of impact assessments of over 910 organisations operating in Nigeria over the past 13 years.
According to a statement from Larfarge, the criteria for the selection include the company’s participation and recognition in national and international investments in CSR and sustainability projects in the period under review.
The assessment also focused on the work of the organisation in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the number of stakeholders impacted by the programmes.
While commenting on the award, the Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development Director for Lafarge Africa, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, said the company was excited and had been encouraged to do more.
She said, “Lafarge has become a global leader in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability and we are happy that our impacts are being recognised.
“Our CSR and sustainability programmes are a major part of our business. Our empowerment programmes cut across four cardinal areas of social intervention which include education, health, infrastructure development and other forms of support,” she said.
Ambrose-Modebem added, “One of Lafarge Africa’s flagship CSR programmes is the National Literacy Competition, which is in its sixth edition.
“We introduced the Lafarge Africa National Literacy Competition in 2014 to engage public primary school pupils across the country who display and improve their literacy skills by competing in literacy-related activities. Since its inception, the competition has impacted more than 700,000 pupils in 1,665 schools across 544 local government areas ,” she added.
She said recently, the company conducted its annual corporate social responsibility for its host communities in Ogun, Cross River and Gombe states, where hundreds of residents in the communities had been empowered since the programme started.
She added that the company had impacted the host communities by creating socio-economic opportunities which had raised over 100 micro-entrepreneurs through various skill acquisition and empowerment interventions.
“To enhance more collaboration and public services across the communities, we have contributed 4,200 business hours through our ‘Friends and the community’ employee volunteering initiative with over 380 strong volunteers,” Ambrose-Medebem said.
She further stated that the company understood the crux of maintaining a source of livelihood, thus, through its agriculture ecology programme, the company provided 400 hectares of farmland in Gombe State with 700 farmers as direct beneficiaries.
She reaffirmed the company’s commitment to agriculture which remained a feasible source of livelihood to Nigerians.
According to her, through Lafarge’s quarry rehabilitation programme, 26,000 tree seedlings were planted in quarries around its host communities to protect the environment.
On this and other sustainability programmes, Ambrose-Medebem said, “We emphasise four critical areas which are climate and energy, circular economy, environment and the community.”
