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Chuks Udo Okonta
AIICO Insurance Plc., Nigeria’s leading insurance Company, as a good corporate entity, reiterated its commitment to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) adoption towards the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by year 2030.
ESG is a framework used to assess various sustainability and ethical issues. While Environmental (E) focuses on a company’s impact on the planet including how businesses manage energy use, waste, pollution, and compliance with environmental regulations; Social (S) refers to a company’s relationship with employees, suppliers, customers, and communities including issues like human rights, diversity, equity, and employee safety.
Governance (G) concerns leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, shareholder rights, and strong governance that ensures a company operates ethically and transparently.
On the other hand, SGDs are a set of 17 global goals established by the United Nations in 2015, designed to address pressing global challenges by 2030.
These goals cover a wide range of areas, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. They are part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and provide a blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all.
In her presentation recently at a one-day training workshop organised by the underwriting Company for members of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), in Lagos, Mrs. Abimbola Shobanjo, Head, Corporate Responsibility, and Sustainability, highlighted the Company’s commitment to ESG and contribution to SDGs.
She said AIICO has introduced Climate-smart initiatives, Green office practices and sustainable resource management e.g. calculating baseline emissions, reducing paper consumption as well as adopting hybrid work arrangements aimed at protecting the environment.
On the Social side, she said Company is ensuring diversity and inclusion focus, taking into consideration employee engagement, and gender diversity, and fostering a supportive work culture.
She hinted at the Company’s upcoming employee engagement survey to include a diversity and Inclusion section, community programmes and outreach (CSR initiatives like health, education, financial inclusion).
On Governance, she reiterated the firm’s commitment to ethical business practices and transparency, strong leadership and internal governance frameworks with regular audits and compliance checks, complying with local and global regulations.
She said the insurer is contributing to SDGs through its various initiatives namely: Pink by AIICO, ActionAid Nigeria, AIICO Revive, AIICO Blood Drive, World Malaria Day, Health & Safety at AIICO, Global Money Week, Girls in Tech, Academic Support, School Children Outreach Programmes.
Others are AIICO Graduate Trainee Programme, Diversity & Inclusion, International Women’s Day, Tree Planting, Agric Support, AIICO Farming Club, Work from Home (WFH), and Centralised Printing.
The Company’s upcoming programmes, according to her include strengthening environmental programmes (More climate action – GHG emission calculations, waste reduction – process digitalization, recycling); Expanding social impact programmess (Community outreach, employee well-being); Enhancing corporate governance (More training for leadership, continuous assessment and improvement on internal controls) and ESG Integration (ESG integration into business operations – ISO 26000 SRMS).
She listed three key areas that ESG matters including Investor interest, Long-term business value and Regulatory pressure.
Investor interest: Increasingly, investors prioritize companies that show a strong commitment to ESG as they tend to be more sustainable and lower risk.
Long-term business value: ESG-driven companies build trust, loyalty, and resilience against social and environmental risks.
Regulatory pressure: International standards like the UN SDGs, UNEP Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), and the UN Global Compact are driving companies to take action.
