Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
The Oloja Ekun of Igbesa in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba AdulAzeez Akinde, has lamented the failure of companies in the Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone Limited and others to perform their Corporate Social Responsibilities for the development of the community.
The monarch, who spoke in his palace, said his people were not happy with the ways and manners companies in his domain had not been performing their CSR and giving out the employment quota due to the community, promising to look into the issue.
Oba Akinde said that he would meet with OGFTZ’s Board Chairman, Mr. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, to interface between the companies in the free trade zone and the community in order to review their past annual reports and accounts to know if they had been performing their CSR to the town or not.
Oba Akinde maintained that a draft Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was already in place to be used as a negotiation tool between the community and management of companies in the free trade zone, and other firms in the area to come to an understanding on how the issue would be resolved.
The monarch, who promised to review the skills and academic qualifications required by people to work in the companies, urged the firms to reconsider their agreement with the state government on the employment of indigenes as part of their CSR.
He said, “Over time, the community has not been happy with the performance of these companies as well as the free trade zone.
“So, what I intend to do to ensure that they are carrying out their CSR is to review their pasts annual reports and accounts and see what is contained in that report as to whether they are meeting this CSR. If yes, what is the proportion of their turnover to the community.
“As we speak, I heard an information this morning that a draft MoU is in place, which is going to be used as a negotiation tool between the community and the free trade zone. So, I am going to review it. I had also been promised that they would give me a copy of the draft of the MoU.
“We are so happy now that the Ogun State Government has appointed Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI) as an interface between the free trade zone and the community. I intend to engage the management of some of these companies to give us an idea of what is the situation and what they intend to give to us.”