Corporate Social Responsibility and Mandatory Due Diligence: From Voluntary Commitment to Enforceable Accountability

Abstract

Purpose: This article examines how Corporate Social Responsibility is being reshaped by the global movement toward mandatory human-rights and environmental due diligence, and it asks whether Nigeria’s existing corporate-governance and sustainability-reporting architecture is adequate for that transition. Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative doctrinal and documentary research design, analyzing international instruments, regulatory directives, corporate-governance standards, and Nigerian regulatory materials published mainly within the last five years, supplemented by thematic document coding and comparative reading of the European Union and Nigerian regulatory pathways. Results: Due diligence does not eliminate voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility but reclassifies selected responsibilities from managerial discretion into enforceable systems of prevention, monitoring, disclosure, and remediation, a shift most visible in the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and echoed unevenly within Nigeria’s sustainability-reporting roadmap. Conclusions: Nigeria possesses relevant governance foundations, but a coherent, risk-based statutory framework for human-rights and environmental due diligence remains necessary to convert disclosure obligations into substantive corporate accountability. Limitations: The doctrinal and documentary design relies on published instruments and secondary literature rather than primary fieldwork or firm-level compliance data. Contributions: The article offers a governance-layered framework distinguishing philanthropic Corporate Social Responsibility, disclosure, and mandatory due diligence, intended to guide Nigerian policymakers and corporate boards.