Reconstructing the role of the corporation: multinational corporations as public actors in Nigeria

An important aspect of corporate governance, gaining currency in recent times, is the fair treatment of and accountability to other stakeholders other than shareholders. Because of the failure of traditional corporate law to adequately address other stakeholder issues the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept is commonly employed to fill this gap albeit its inherent limitations. This paper posits that corporate law is essential to responding to other stakeholder issues appropriately. The argument of this paper is that the way corporations are conceived in different jurisdictions significantly impacts upon the treatment of other stakeholders. The paper contends that given the role of MNCs in the Nigerian context it is necessary to adopt a corporate governance paradigm that is relevant to the local context. The first part of the paper presents an analysis of dominant corporate governance theories and a related level of enquiry: the private versus public interest dimension of the corporate form. The second part examines corporate governance in the context of Nigeria and its relevance to MNCs. The third part considers the advantages and practicality of a Nigerian paradigm shift