SUSTAINABILITY AND PROFITABILITY OF NIGERIA LISTED INSURANCE COMPANIES

Despite the fact that there are various studies that have been conducted on sustainability, most studies have concentrated on the manufacturing sector with few attention on the financial sector, especially the insurance companies; this is in spite of the contributions of this sector to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Nigerian economy at large. The three categories of sustainability such as social performance sustainability, environmental performance sustainability and economic performance sustainability have not been given their due share. Emphasis was placed on deposit money banks in Nigeria while the insurance sector was largely ignored. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the financial sector is largely made up of insurance companies. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of sustainability performance on profitability of listed Nigeria insurance companies. The data were obtained from the annual accounts and reports of quoted insurance firms in Nigeria and was analysed. Findings revealed that while social sustainability has positive and significant effect on profitability, environmental sustainability has negative and significant effect on profitability. However, economic sustainability failed to show any significant effect. Conclusively, the paper provided a more understanding of sustainability reporting and contributes to the discussion by examining the influence of three factors of sustainability on profitability: social sustainability, economic sustainability and environmental sustainabilit