WEF President Tasks Oil Firms On Social Responsibility

President of World Editors (WEF), Mr Bertrand Pecquerie has challenged oil companies operating in the Niger-Delta to do more for their communities.

Speaking in an exclusive chat with The Tide briefing after attending the 6th Nigerian Editors Conference held in Port Harcourt over the weekend, Mr Pecquerie observed that the oil companies were not doing enough for their communities.

His words, “At the moment there is still not enough employment for Nigerians … everything seems to be coming from abroad. This proportion is absurd. I am not saying that because the sector is very technical but the minimum should be that Nigerians should collaborate with them. So my impression is that the local content law should be enforced.”

The WEF president said though Nigeria is highly behind in local content policy, he insisted that Nigerians should be empowered to run and manage the oil an gas sector together with foreigners.

Moreover, he remarked that activities in the sector are still not transparent as a lot of money made from oil exploration activities are yet to be accounted for.

“I think what we are seeing is what happened in the 50’s when companies ran 50-50 like in Iran and Algeria. 50 years what w have as a task because the commitment is better social responsibility.”

Commenting on the Niger Delta crisis, he lauded the government for initiating the amnesty policy and the rehabilitation of militants. However, he said there is need for government to also evolve policies that would reduce the plight of law abiding citizens, so that they would feel abandoned.

He tasked the federal government to borrow a leaf from South Africa, Indonesia where rehabilitation programmes worked,” the problem is how to manage the post-amnesty programme,” he added.

Mr Pecquerie challenged the mass media to meet up to its responsibility by making the government accountable. He stressed that the media as the fourth estate of the realm should be the watch dog of the people.

One way he suggested the media could live up to its responsibility is by evolving and following ethical guidelines to educate journalists on the practice of responsible journalism.