By FRANKLIN ALLI

_The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is expiring next year. At the dawn of the 21^st century, specifically in September 2000, Nigeria and 188 other member countries of United Nations assembled at UN Headquarters in New York and agreed on a number of initiatives to free people from extreme poverty.

They also promised to provide universal primary education; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases as well as ensure environmental protection, all by the target date of 2015. This pledge turned into the eight Millennium Development Goals.

Right now the international development community is taking stock of the progress recoded so far by member countries and is pondering over what happens after 2015.

Locally, how have corporate organisations in Nigeria helped the governments (federal, states and local) to meet the MDGs targets? Investigations conducted by Vanguard, revealed that Promasidor Nigeria Limited , which manufacturers dairy products such as Cowbell and Loya milk, is one of the companies in the country that have tailored its corporate social responsibility to suit MDGs targets.

The company’s areas of intervention in the MDGs are goals 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7. At the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) highlighted the positive role sustainable food systems can play in the fight against hunger. Every day, 840 million people go hungry. “We need to produce nutritious food for all people today while also protecting the capacity of future generations to feed them,” said Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General.

In line with this, a delve into Promasidor’s archive confirmed that the company has consistently made significant contribution in this area by manufacturing quality and nutritious food products and making them available to Nigerians at affordable prices.

Andrew Enahoro, Head
Legal and Public Relations, Promasidor, recalled that there was a time in Nigeria when the generality of the populace can’t afford evaporated milk, powdered milk because they are expensive, “but when we came in, we said how we can provide nutrition to everybody? And we found out that the best way to do that is to bulk- break and make milk affordable such that a man who is a daily paid worker can buy it.

“At that time the cost of 450g milk sell for between N500 to N600 which is equal to daily wage. But a bricklayer, mason or farmer can’t afford to spend that on a can milk but at least he can buy a satchel of milk for N5, buy three or four for N20 for himself and his family to drink tea or pap.”

“We don’t just provide affordable and nutritious milk; we are one of the few companies who actually started fortification of milk with vitamins A, B, C and K which add nourishment to the body.

Being a food company, our products have been able to at least take care of poverty and hunger by making our products affordable to Nigerians and indirectly reduces hunger ; it is also reducing diseases because taking the vitamins fortifications once you are no longer malnourished your body has protection against diseases,” he said.

Similarly, the 2013/14 Education for All Global Monitoring Report shows why education is pivotal for development in a rapidly changing world.

The report highlighted the need to promote quality education by investing wisely in students and teachers. What has Promasidor done in this regard? Findings further revealed that its largest CSR initiative is in the education sector of the economy.

In a bid to encourage learning and to improve students’ performance in mathematics, the company introduced the Cowbell National Secondary Schools Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) 14 years ago and it is still ongoing.

Archival data showed that every year an average of 35-40,000 students sit for the exams across the country.

“If you aggregate the number of students who sits for the exams and the winners that emerges every year, that gives you a glimpse of the multiplier effects on the students, the schools and the nation.

“What has been the success story of NASSMAC from when we started?

VANGUARD learnt that at the last count, one of the boys authored a mathematic textbook, another recently graduated with 5.0 gpa from a university in Russia; of recent, in America, one of them and an America chap set up an Apps for Financial Analysis platform.

In the sphere of environmental sustainability, Promasidor has also gone green in its operations.

According to United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, “Green Industries “are manufacturing concerns that have invested in technology that doesn’t harm the environment.

A visit to Promasidor’s factory at Isolo in Lagos showed that the company has made significant changes in its operating environment; it now uses wind power plant to power its operations and enhance electricity in the host community.

“We have disconnected from the public power grid because we now use only gas. We have migrated from using diesel to gas; you know what this mean for the environment; our gas emission is environmental friendly and our gas emission is at o percent level.

In line with that we are wind –driven, and we no longer use the regular air conditioners that we put on the wall. The regular air cons emit gases that deplete the ozone layers.

That is why if you remember, air-conditions in those days have iron-like radiators at the back. In Europe, they have banned it because the gas they used in filling it depletes the ozone layers.

It is not environmental friendly gas, our own is water –cool; the water passes through the chillers which in turns bring out very cool air through the process.

Also our forklifts are not powered by petroleum, they are powered by gas; likewise, waste products from our factory go through waste treatment plants; the water that we actually discharge into the central drain is cleaner than the drain. This ensure pollution free environment,” Enahoro disclosed.