Director of External Affairs & Social Performance, Seplat Energy Plc, Chioma Afe, has urged businesses to move beyond treating sustainability as a standalone corporate social responsibility (CSR) function and embed it into strategy, operations and decision-making as a tool for managing risk, creating business value and driving measurable impact.

She made the call at the 2026 Sustainability Conference of the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria (SPIN), in Lagos, where sustainability professionals and stakeholders examined the capabilities required to navigate volatility and build more resilient, future-ready organisations.

These were contained in a statement on Sunday by Manager, Corporate Communications, Corporate Communications & Media Relations, Seplat Energy Plc, Stanley Opara.

Speaking on a panel themed “The Future-Ready Sustainability Professional: Skills for Navigating Volatile Times,” Afe pointed out that sustainability professionals must help organisations move away from viewing sustainability as a cost centre or a collection of social initiatives and instead position it as an integral part of business strategy.

“Sustainability should not be viewed as a cost centre. It’s a risk management tool,” she said.

Afe cited Seplat Energy’s strategic evolution, explaining that when the company reviewed its strategy in 2020–2021, sustainability was positioned as a core component of the business capable of driving returns, rather than as a side initiative focused primarily on community interventions.

According to her, meaningful integration requires sustainability to be understood across the organisation, with functions including operations, legal, procurement, finance and human resources recognising their roles in identifying and managing sustainability-related risks and contributing to organisational objectives.

She also urged sustainability professionals to develop stronger commercial awareness and understand how sustainability can contribute to solving real business problems. According to her, rather than simply implementing initiatives and reporting activities, practitioners should be able to articulate the business case, identify the risks being addressed and demonstrate the value created.

Afe further challenged professionals to broaden their understanding of impact beyond the boundaries of individual organisations and consider the wider ecosystems in which businesses operate.

“We should stop funding random acts of kindness,” she said, stressing the need for organisations to first understand the business or societal challenge they are seeking to address before committing resources.

She explained that many challenges facing individual organisations are connected to wider social, economic and environmental systems., saying that addressing them effectively therefore requires collaboration among businesses, communities, government and other stakeholders.

To determine where resources should be directed, Afe encouraged sustainability professionals to apply materiality assessments and stakeholder mapping to understand both what matters to the business and what matters to its stakeholders.

Such an approach, she said, can help organisations move away from initiatives undertaken simply because they are convenient or readily available and towards interventions that respond to clearly identified and material needs.

Afe also emphasised the importance of data and evidence in demonstrating whether sustainability interventions are achieving their intended outcomes.

“Measure what matters,” she said, urging professionals to focus on the indicators that genuinely demonstrate progress rather than attempting to measure everything.

She noted that sustainability professionals should be able to establish a clear connection between an identified challenge, the intervention designed to address it and the resulting outcome. Where an initiative cannot demonstrate meaningful impact, she said, practitioners should be willing to question whether it is delivering genuine value.

Beyond technical sustainability expertise, Afe identified commercial understanding, organisational awareness, data literacy, governance knowledge, stakeholder engagement and relationship-building as increasingly important capabilities for professionals seeking to influence senior leadership.

She also encouraged practitioners to understand Nigeria’s regulatory environment alongside global sustainability developments, while continuously mapping stakeholders, identifying emerging risks and recognising governance gaps.

On the progression of sustainability professionals into board and executive leadership positions, Afe said practitioners must demonstrate an understanding of the organisation beyond their immediate functions.

“For you to be on the board, you must understand the business in totality,” she said.

She explained that professionals who remain confined to their functional responsibilities may struggle to demonstrate how their work contributes to broader organisational performance. Building cross-functional relationships and understanding how business decisions are interconnected, she added, are therefore critical to career progression.

Afe further encouraged sustainability professionals to invest deliberately in their development, participate in professional networks and create opportunities for mentorship, sponsorship and leadership visibility.

“You must develop, you must learn, you must continue to collaborate, you must continue to give yourself the opportunity and seize the platforms where you can be seen and heard,” she said.

Afe’s remarks reinforce the evolving role of sustainability as a strategic discipline increasingly connected to business resilience, risk management, governance and long-term value creation.

“For Seplat Energy, this approach reflects the company’s commitment to embedding sustainability across its business strategy and operations. Its participation in the SPIN conference further demonstrates its commitment to strengthening sustainability practice, building professional capacity and advancing conversations on responsible business and long-term value creation in Nigeria.

“As organisations navigate increasingly interconnected risks and stakeholder expectations, Afe’s message reinforces the need for sustainability professionals to become strategic partners who understand business priorities, use evidence to guide decisions, engage stakeholders effectively and design interventions capable of creating meaningful impact across the wider ecosystem,” the statement added.

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