Nigerian food and beverage company Rite Foods presented its 2025 Sustainability Report in Lagos last week, and what makes it worth paying attention to is not the target itself but the way the company chose to communicate it.
Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Ekuma Eze disclosed that total carbon emissions stood at 567.5 tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2024 before falling by five per cent in 2025, while carbon intensity reduced year on year by 23 per cent. Water use fell by 15 per cent between 2024 and 2025. Solid waste generation dropped from 10.6 grams per litre of beverage in 2024 to 7.71 grams in 2025, a 27 per cent reduction. Social investment rose to N581.92 million in 2025, a 50 per cent increase on the previous year.
The company also reduced its energy use ratio by seven per cent between 2024 and 2025, with more than 93 per cent of its energy mix now sourced from natural gas, while renewable energy contributed 1.4 per cent.
Rite Foods says it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a further 10 per cent by 2026 and 40 per cent by 2030, before reaching net zero by 2060 in alignment with Nigeria's national target.The report received third-party assurance from Ernst and Young, which Eze noted was a voluntary decision rather than a regulatory requirement.
Why the Methodology Matters as Much as the Numbers
Nigerian brand communications around sustainability have a credibility problem. Most of what gets published is general, unverifiable, and written in the kind of language that sounds meaningful without committing to anything specific. Rite Foods did the opposite.
The 2025 Sustainability Report uses specific metrics, named executives who stand behind the claims, year-on-year comparisons that allow external verification, and independent assurance from a Big Four accounting firm. That combination is uncommon at the Nigerian FMCG level, and it changes how the report functions commercially.
A sustainability report with third-party assurance is not just a document about environmental performance. It is a trust signal for investors, regulators, procurement teams at large retailers, and any brand or institutional partner that evaluates its supply chain on ESG criteria.Board Chairman Dr. Sulaiman Adebola Adegunwa echoed the operational specifics in the report itself, noting that over 93 per cent of energy sourced came from gas, a cleaner fuel than diesel, and that the company remains focused on expanding solar capacity.
Having the board chairman speak to operational details in a published and externally assured document raises the accountability level beyond what a corporate communications release typically carries.
The Brand Opportunity in Specific ESG Storytelling
Nigerian consumers are not yet making purchasing decisions primarily on sustainability grounds in the way European consumers increasingly do. But institutional buyers, export market partners, and impact investors are.
A company that can demonstrate consistent, measurable progress toward a defined emissions target, backed by third-party verification, is in a materially stronger commercial position than one making general commitments without data behind them.
Rite Foods is building that position now, before Nigerian regulatory requirements around ESG disclosure are formalised, which is the right sequencing. Brands that build the habit of rigorous ESG reporting before it is required are better positioned when regulation catches up, because they have the systems, the data, and the external relationships already in place.
The 2060 net zero target is a long timeline. What the 2025 report actually demonstrates is that Rite Foods is treating the journey toward it with the same seriousness it wants to be credited for at the destination. That is a different story from most Nigerian FMCG sustainability communications, and it is a more credible one.
