Stakeholders have said businesses must move beyond treating sustainability as a corporate responsibility initiative and make it central to strategy, risk management and investment decisions to remain resilient in an increasingly uncertain environment, stakeholders have said.

They stated this yesterday in Lagos at the inaugural Sustainability Conference of the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria (SPIN). Themed: ‘The Adaptive Enterprise: Sustainability Strategies for Challenging Times’.

The event brought together sustainability professionals, business leaders and other stakeholders to examine how organisations can remain resilient amid economic, environmental and social pressures.

Delivering the keynote address, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Aminu Umar Sadiq, said economic volatility, climate change, geopolitical shifts, energy transition, technological disruption and regulatory changes were reshaping how organisations operate and create value.

Represented by NSIA Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer, Kolawole Owodunni, he said adaptability had moved from being desirable to becoming necessary for long-term survival and competitiveness.

“Sustainability can no longer sit at the margins. It belongs to the centre of how organisations make decisions,” Sadiq said.

He noted that climate change, resource constraints, regulation, technology and changing social expectations were already affecting operating costs, supply chains, market access and investment performance, stressing that these were not merely sustainability concerns but business issues.

According to him, sustainable finance is also emerging as a source of competitive advantage, particularly as businesses seek new financing opportunities to support the transition to more sustainable economies.

He said access to capital would increasingly depend on credible governance, transparent disclosure, effective environmental and social risk management and the ability of businesses to demonstrate measurable outcomes.

Sadiq added that Africa’s infrastructure deficits, energy constraints, climate vulnerability, food insecurity and financing gaps should not be viewed only as risks, but also as opportunities for investment and innovation.

He said NSIA had sought to address some of these challenges through investments and platforms in areas including healthcare, renewable energy and infrastructure financing.

FirstBank Group Managing Director, Olusegun Alebiosu, said the difficult operating environment facing Nigeria, including currency volatility, inflation, capital constraints and weaker global appetite for environmental, social and governance investments, had tested the commitment of businesses to sustainability.

He, however, said such pressures should not lead institutions to abandon sustainability strategies.
Represented by the bank’s Executive Director, Risk, Biyi Olagbami, the FirstBank boss said: “The harder the environment, the more sustainability strategies earn their place as a core risk and growth discipline, not just an add-on.”

He disclosed that FirstBank screened more than 500 corporate transactions valued at over N10 trillion for environmental, social and governance risks in 2025, compared with 237 transactions worth slightly more than N3 trillion in 2024.

SPIN President, Kenneth Amaeshi, said the institute’s inaugural conference marked an important step in advancing sustainability practice in Nigeria and Africa.

Amaeshi urged professionals to develop sustainability approaches that reflect local realities instead of simply adopting models developed elsewhere.