This study was designed to assess religious organisation’s corporate social responsibility efforts and the expectations of their members during the COVID-19 lockdown in the South-South Nigeria. The objectives of this study, among others, were find out the expectations of religious organisations and their corporate social responsibility in conflict/emergency situations. It was hypothesised that the corporate social responsibility initiatives of religious organisations had a positive influence on their corporate image and there is a significant relationship between the corporate social responsibility of religious organisations in South-South Nigeria, during the lockdown and the new membership enrolment. The Hypotheses were tested using the using the Cronbach Alpha on Statistical Packages for Social Science. The study adopted the Stakeholders, System theories as it theoretical bases. The descriptive survey research method was adopted with the questionnaire as the research instrument. The South-South region of Nigeria constituted the population of the study while a simple size of 400 respondents from the Taro Yamane formula were selected. However, 381 questionnaire were returned and certified as appropriate for the study. The study adopted the proportional sampling techniques. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of the respondents (57) percent received assistance from various religious organisations during the lockdown though there were significant disparities in their areas of interest. The study concluded that the CRS initiatives of the religious organisation positively influenced their images and fostered a sense of care and compassion which led to new member enrolment. It was thus recommended among others that religious organisations should improve the timeliness of their support during emergencies while such initiatives should be carried out with more transparency.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Nigeria, South-South, covid-19 lockdown, religious organisations
