Abstract

This study is focused on the Assessment of Socio-environmental Responsibility of Refining Company: The case study in Mukundange- Limbe (South West Region Cameroon). This research was carried out as an attempt to look into the problems which come up due to lack of implementation of all the various steps of socio-environmental responsibilities by SONARA Company all caused by laxness of the government to closely check the company’s activities. Before the study, a main objective to assess the socio-environmental responsibility of the refining company was put. That is to; clearly outline the practices which the company performs to ensure a balance between production and the ecosystem. The study on this socio-environmental responsibilities of SONARA Company was carried out by collecting data from survey using the systematic sampling technique, interviews and from published and unpublished materials which was then analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics techniques and presented in graphs and tables. The hypothesis was tested using the chi-square test.

After the survey had been done, findings about the socio-environmental practices of SONARA Company were discovered like it encouraging in Socio-cultural activities by sponsoring FESTAC, and its main cause of the low level of practicing its socio-environmental responsibilities is attributed to poor management system by the local chiefs. Finally, recommendations were made to the Government, SONARA Company and lastly the community.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background of Study

The exploitation of natural resources is the use of naturally occurring resources for economic growth that sometimes is accompanied with negative connotation of environmental degradation. Natural resources are one of the important natural product forces in the human society. They also include minerals of rocks of different type’s e.g. metamorphic, sedimentary, igneous rocks, petroleum and related minerals. Mineral resources are as important as agricultural resources. Overtime, countries that exploit their resources which are of economic importance, turn to developed drastically. By implication, a country whose economy is based on agricultural and mineral resource production would gain dominance over countries that are essentially agriculturalist (Mboduh, 2019).

At a global scale, natural resources that are commonly exploited are; petroleum, natural gas, lumber, coal, iron, phosphorus, water, diamonds, gold, iron ore, crude oil, uranium, aluminum. These resources are not evenly distributed on the globe. Indicating that, some have certain resources in abundance while others have little or none. The countries in the world with abundant resources are; China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Russia, United State of America, Venezuela, Brazil, Australia, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, these countries because of the availability of natural resources, they practice full exploration which adds to the economic wealth of the country. They are mostly developed countries and they practice fair utilization of resources meaning it adds more value to their economy unlike African countries where the resources are more of a curse than a blessing due to the fact that they still experience high rate of poverty and sufferings (Auty, 1993).The exploitation of resources in the world also has negative impacts like greenhouse gas increase, ozone layer depletion, desertification, water pollution, extreme energy, natural hazard/disaster, soil erosion, oil depletion (Babagana Gutti et al., 2012)

So in the world, the country with the highest natural resources are the ones listed above. Canada for instance, is the third on the list of countries with the most natural resources. Overall, the country has an estimated worth of $33.2 trillion of commodities and the third largest oil deposits after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. USA, is the top world’s oil production country with 80.622.000 ton daily followed by Russia (11.200.000 tons) then Saudi Arabia (OPEC) 10.460.710 tons (Tim Daiss, 2018) China is the leader in mining gold, zinc, tin, tungsten, rare earths, graphite, vanadium, antimony and phosphate. China also hold a second place in mine production of copper, silver, cobalt, bauxite/alumina and manganese. In the domain of natural gas, Venmark, Karola, Arataran and Abilleron are the countries involved with the exploitation (U.S.A Energy Information Administration, 2018)

To talk about natural resource exploitation in Africa, we start by stating the available resources. They include; iron ore (Mauritania) petroleum (Cameroon, Congo, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Morocco Angola, Sudan, Lybia, Nigeria, Togo, Tchad, Tunisia), Diamond (Namibia, Botswana, Zaire, Central Africa Republic, Sierra Leone), Gold (Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa, Burkina, Ethiopia), Uranium (Niger and Somalia), Aluminum( Mozambique, Guinea)  , Phosphate (Morocco), ( CIA Fact book Simiran Khosla/Global Post 2017). Companies in the world are Social responsibilities of companies which is an ethical theory that individuals are accountable for fulfilling their civic duty implying the action the actions of an individual must be a balance between economic growth and the welfare of society and the environment. The actions of companies have significant impact in the lives of the community and the world not just in products and services they offer or the jobs and opportunities they create, but also in terms of working conditions, human rights, health, the environment, innovation, education and training. Talking about the social responsibilities of companies in the world, we will start with Europe. Citizens rightly expect that companies understand their positive and negative impacts on the society and environment. Therefore, prevent, manage and mitigate any negative impacts that they may cause, including within their global supply chain. So, they live up to this duty, public authorities including the European Union have an important in supporting and encouraging companies to conduct their business responsibly (European Committee, 2006). Over the years, smart mix of voluntary and mandatory actions to promote cooperate social responsibility, and implement the United Nation guiding principles on business and human rights (UNGPs) and the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development (Staff working document,2019). Small and medium sized companies are the most common type of businesses in the European Union. They practice social responsibility through their close relations with employees, the local community, and their business partners. They often have a naturally responsible approach to business. For most small and medium enterprises, the process by which they meet their social responsibility goals is likely to remain informal and intuitive. Social responsibilities are promoted too by developing CSR hand books and manuals. Another main initiative to promote CSR as European policy was the launch of the European Alliance for CSR in 2006 which has invited enterprises of all sizes to express their commission aims to encourage the further take-up of CSR amongst European enterprises through this alliance, which is not a legal instrument but more likely a vehicle for mobilizing the resources and capacities of European enterprises and stakeholders. The Alliance is intended to contribute to the eight new priority areas for European Union action in promoting CSR: awareness-raising and best practice exchange, support to multi-stakeholder initiatives, cooperation with member states, provision of consumer information and transparency, research, education support for small and medium-sized enterprises and the international dimension of CSR (European Committee, 2006). In America, companies always keep a check of what the impact of their steps on the ecosystem as a whole. They are found to be more careful about the recycling of products, making an ecofriendly purchase and living an ecofriendly life. Companies Adidas for instance in Canada, initiate ideas to mitigate the problem of climate change. Shoes and clothes are being manufactured with 100% recycled materials. The CSR forum provides headquarters employees and opportunity to learn about cooperate social responsibility through free lectures, film screening and other activities.

African business consists of many small local enterprises and few medium sized enterprises and large foreign multinationals. The small local enterprises have a weak financial base and visibility (for example a small kiosk in a village in Kenya. Tax shop in Namibia and Suki in Ethiopia). Relatively, smaller enterprises will not practice social responsibilities activities like bigger enterprise will do this is because, big companies are more high profile and thus attract more media attention and they are particularly concerned to protect and enhance their reputations with a broader public as well as key stakeholders. They are also often better-resourced and more able to invest in CSR (Craig Smith, 2013). CSR differs considerably across the continents and countries of the world as several studies have shown (Dobers and Halme, 2009). Whilst CSR theories and practices in Africa is generally adopted from the western world, organization studies suggest that Africa due to differences in structural, institutional and cultural diverse of CSR between the western and African countries (Darty-Baah and Amponsah-Tawaih,2011). Globally, while Europe has taken a leading position of CSR in Africa, political and economic conditions have been beneficial for a rapid evolution of CSR.

Cooperate Social Responsibilities existed in Cameroon since the colonial period although it was not recognized as CSR this is the reason why majority of large companies do not have either CSR policy in place or a term that deals with CSR. Company polices were geared towards their workers which in turn benefited the people living around the operating areas of these companies. For example, the Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC) was created in the German colonial period and now they are the second highest employer in Cameroon after the government with a network of hospitals, recreational facilities and educational facilities which the local community benefits from it. The influx of foreign investors to Cameroon since the 1990’s as a result of the privatization of many Cameroonian parastals saw some company’s existing CSR as a cooperate benevolence. The companies turn to support particular initiative or programs that the company felt passionate about which the local communities benefit s from in return (Ndzi Ernestine, 2016).

Cameroon has been highlighted as one of the countries in Africa in which large businesses promote the practice of CSR primarily through philanthropic projects in health, education and poverty reduction. Several businesses are involved in development initiatives to create employment and generate sources of income. Most large businesses such as ENEO, MTN, SGBC, ORANGE, HYSACAM, CIMENCAM, and SODECOTON have discretionally measures to improve the living conditions of the local population. Increasingly, the employees, consumers and the local communities are expecting a lot from business operating in the country and local areas.

Companies in Limbe like the oil refinery (SONARA), Cameroon Development Cooperation(CDC), exhibit some amount of social responsibility for instance by taking part in charitable givings, sponsoring the FESTAC thus acknowledging the importance of cultural diversity, giving out scholarships and holiday jobs to outstanding students hence encouraging positive educational competition.

Cameroon, like most other African countries, is at a cross road: tangled between her historical and cultural attributes of community living and the more recent drive towards economic prosperity and growth, and looking up to countries like China and Brazil and trying to draft a growth model that will work for them. It is only fair to say many Cameroonians are looking to rapid economic growth as a way out of Poverty. The current government of Cameroon has taken note and has come up with a new strategic orientation called the vision 2035. The roadmap seeks to transform Cameroon into an emerging economy by 2035.One of the biggest areas of investment the government is targeting is the energy sector.

Ever since then, the government now considers petroleum as a key source of energy to power Cameroon’s present and future energy needs. This situation has put Cameroon’s oil industry into a prison. The work of multi-national companies such as TOTAL E and P, ADDAX, BGP, GLENCORE and so on, in this region is raising more questions. People are getting weary of the living conditions in communities such as Ndian and Bakossi where most of Cameroonian oil comes from. Even more worrisome is the proximity of this region to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which has a notorious history of oil, poverty and violence. There have been several attacks on military and government installations in the oil rich area. The situation is fragile and much needs to be done to ensure the gift of oil doesn’t turn into a curse.

The situation with SONARA is representative of what is going on in other companies around the country. However, more importantly, SONARA is a petro-chemical company and sits finely in the present and future growth plans of the country’s government. SONARA is also one of the companies that is already benefiting from a massive injection of cash as part of a Cameroon’s growth strategy.

Here a case of civic activism initiated by the African Centre for Research, Development and Climate Change (AFREDECO) a civil society dialogue and sustainable investments of the “Société Nationale de Raffinage” Oil Company Limited (SONARA). The motivations, method and results of the process of social mobilizations by AFREDEC campaign has involved academia, traditional leaders in communities, the media, local administrative authorities, target communities and citizens, and the CSR Policy of SONARA hasn’t yet shown changes; but the company started to accept participating in social meetings with stakeholders in 2011, after several invitations. A reflection is made on how it is possible for CRS to become part of business policy if society and government are actively engaged in social dialogue and coherent policies.

1.2 Problem Statement

When Cameroonians think of oil today, one name comes to mind SONARA. SONARA Oil Company Limited is the National Oil Refinery and the public face of oil in Cameroon. Set up in 1979, SONARA has refined crude and supplied finished products to the Cameroonian market for the best part of three decades. It is fair to say SONARA is an icon of the Cameroonian economy and for a long time the most profitable enterprise in the country. Over the past few years, a lot of anger has been channel towards the corporation for many reasons, which have caused a division between the corporation and the local communities. People understand SONARA is a public company and want the company to show more response to social needs of the communities, but the corporation has been lukewarm about community engagement. Local community feel they deserve better communication on the corporation’s activities and impact of its activities, but the corporation has been slow to come up with an encompassing social strategy. The few efforts of social responsibilities which it does are appreciated. The problem comes up due to the lack of implementation of all the various steps of social responsibilities. This lack is caused by, laxness of the government to follow up the company’s activities, lack of adequate collaboration between the population and SONARA, lack of roads and insufficient funds. SONARA is not a social responsibility company as it has not implemented all the various steps in that domain. This possess an adverse effect on the community leading to problems of massive air, land and water pollution which will lead to further problems of global warming and climate change. If waste is not properly recycled and taken care of. Another problem is, if the stakeholders of the company are not well taken care of; they will turn to be less efficient as there will be absence of motivation.

1.3 Research questions

1.3.1 Main Question

How does SONARA perform its corporate social environmental responsibilities?

1.3.2 Specific Question

1. Is SONARA socio-environmentally responsible?
2. Are the stakeholders and local populations satisfied with the socio-environmental responsibility measures?
3. What can be suggested to improve the socio-environmental responsibility of SONARA to boost sustainable local development in Mokundange?