We once had MTN as the title sponsor of Enugwu-Ukwu Igu-Aro and the other associated festivals. That relationship stopped and no other brand has bothered to throw their muscle behind the rich cultural fest. Globacom sponsors the Onitsha Ofala Festival… However, other brands are yet to step in as co-sponsors to help blow the festival the same way they have done with the Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
We pride ourselves on having a large market in the South-East. Numbers and statistics support this claim. When I was in the telecom industry, Onitsha was a big revenue centre for the telcos.
However, we cannot say that brands benefiting from the huge South-East market have shown enough good faith in their social investments decision-making, and this is baffling.
Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt usually receive a large chunk of corporate sponsorships from major Nigerian brands, to the neglect of the South-East market, which can be likened to the goose that lays the golden egg.
We once had MTN as the title sponsor of Enugwu-Ukwu Igu-Aro and the other associated festivals. That relationship stopped and no other brand has bothered to throw their muscle behind the rich cultural fest. Globacom sponsors the Onitsha Ofala Festival.
However, other brands are yet to step in as co-sponsors to help blow the festival the same way they have done with the Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
These fliers are just a few examples of how other brands have helped to activate the Ojude-Oba festival.
Organising world-class festivals requires a lot of resources which only brands can provide. We people of the South-East are demanding more from brands that are generating tons of revenue from the South-East.
During festive periods such as Easter, New Yam, and Christmas seasons when these festivals take place. It’s choc-a-block and bumper-to-bumper traffic in the Southeast. So, a bit more CSI gaze towards the South-East by the brands won’t be a bad idea. The tokenism approach should be discarded because it’s good business for them.
Fair is fair.
We are simply asking for a re-think of the corporate social investments (CSI) strategies of major Nigerian brands to also favour the South-East, which also generates the revenues for them.
The argument that insecurity in the South-East is one of the reasons why brands chose to stay away from CSI investments in the region is not completely true. Insecurity may have impacted the social life but people are still making calls and using data in the South-East, so the telcos can’t complain.
On the Mondays of sit-at-home, I can bet that data and call usages increase as people idle away at home. On weekends, and even weekdays, bars and nightclubs are still banging, so beverage companies are smiling.
The financial services sector is thriving, despite the security challenges. POS operators are almost lined up, inch after inch in our communities. Banks are still declaring trillions of naira in profits.
During festive periods such as Easter, New Yam, and Christmas seasons when these festivals take place. It’s choc-a-block and bumper-to-bumper traffic in the Southeast. So, a bit more CSI gaze towards the South-East by the brands won’t be a bad idea. The tokenism approach should be discarded because it’s good business for them.
Uche Nworah expressed this views on his LinkedIn page.
