Chevron Commits $100m To Boost Economic Devt In Niger Delta

The establishment of Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), by Chevron has gulped over $100 million and leveraged a corresponding amount from investors and partners.

In 2010, Chevron established the PIND, a non-profit organisation working with partners to complement the GMoU, build peace and address the macro socio-economic issues in the Niger Delta region.

The PIND’s programmes have continued to create socio-economic impact in the Niger Delta region through the twin pillars of economic development and peace building, leading to increased productivity and incomes, jobs, and reduced conflict, said Chevron Nigeria’s general manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Esimaje Brikinn.

Brikinn, in a statement during Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary, highlighted Chevron Nigeria’s focus on helping to engender the development of communities in the Niger Delta through the erstwhile Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), a community-driven, participatory partnership model for community engagement pioneered by Chevron Nigeria in 2005.

“Through the GMoU, we provided funds to execute hundreds of projects in the communities where we operate in the Niger Delta region.

This has led to social investment projects benefitting over 600 communities in the Niger Delta area. We will be leveraging our experience with the GMoU in the implementation of the Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA)”, he stated.

For the last 10 years, one of the Chevron Nigeria companies, Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, has spent an estimated annual average of $1 billion on Nigerian suppliers and service providers.

The chairman and managing director, Chevron Nigeria and Mid-Africa Business unit, Rick Kennedy, said: “Chevron does all this, not because it is compelled to, but because it is the right thing to do.”

Brikinn further narrated that Chevron Nigeria’s social investment footprint extends beyond its areas of operation, adding that, “Among other health initiatives, Chevron Nigeria built and donated a DNA Molecular laboratory to the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, and the facility is very significant to medical research in Nigeria.”

In the heat of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, Chevron Nigeria donated a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory to Warri Central Hospital to support the Delta State government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to other industry-collaborations.

Chevron Nigeria has also implemented health initiatives such as the Roll Back Malaria programmes, Prevention of Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV/AIDS and awareness programmes on River blindness, among others.

In its Deep offshore operations, Chevron Nigeria has continued to implement projects and programmes in the areas of health, education, and economic development across Nigeria.

Brikinn said, the Star Deepwater Petroleum Company Limited (a Chevron company) and its parties in the Agbami field – Famfa Oil Limited, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited, and Prime 127 Nigeria Limited – have been investing in fighting Tuberculosis (TB) with the construction and equipment of chest clinics in Nigeria to support the treatment and care of tuberculosis patients in Nigeria.

Currently 28 such chest clinics fully equipped with standard X-Ray machines, male and female wards, treatment rooms, laboratories and GeneXpert Machines have been completed across the country to support the Nigerian health system.

The Agbami parties have also donated nine (9) mother-and-child health care centres and one medical diagnostics laboratory in some States in Nigeria. Some of the donated chest clinics and mother and childcare centres became useful for COVID-19 response in some states during the heat of the pandemic.

Also, Chevron Nigeria continues to support development of education in the Niger Delta region and across the country through development of education infrastructure, capacity building and scholarships.

The scholarships include: the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited/Chevron Nigeria Limited Joint Venture’s national university scholarship and the community scholarship program which caters for students in both secondary and tertiary institutions from communities in Chevron Nigeria’s areas of operations.

Additionally, Chevron Nigeria awards scholarships to visually impaired students to enhance their access to quality education.

Over 23,000 people have benefitted from the company’s scholarship programs which include scholarship for community postgraduates’ scholars in Nigeria and foreign universities.

Since inception of the Agbami Medical and Engineering Professional Scholarship programme in 2009, over 16,500 students from all the states of Nigeria have benefitted from the scholarship, out of which 715 students have graduated with first class degrees.

Chevron Nigeria and its Deepwater parties have continued to invest in education infrastructure.

The parties have executed 39 Science laboratory complexes and 25 conventional and hybrid libraries across the country.

Chevron Nigeria said it is optimistic about the future of the oil and gas business in Nigeria.

As the chairman/managing director emphasised: “Chevron takes a long-term view of Nigeria, the company has been making significant investments in the country for 60 years and it believes that with the right policies, laws and regulations, the enormous potential of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector can yield even greater benefits for all.”