Don Tasks Oil Firms On Community Dev

A university don, Prof. Mark Anikpo has called on oil companies operating in Rivers State to demonstrate strong commitment to the development of the communities where they operate through their corporate social responsibility.

Prof. Anikpo, disclosed this while presenting a paper titled: Promoting Collaboration for Sustainable Rural Transformation” during the formal launching and fund raising event of  the Rivers State Community Foundation at the Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, recently.

According to Prof. Anikpo, statistics still reveal a high poverty index in the Niger Delta, despite the presence of myriads of multinational corporations prospecting for oil in the area.

The university don attributed the increasing spate of underdevelopment in the region to the tendency of foisting development project on the people by the various oil companies without due consultation.

He described the concept of development as pluralistic, requiring that due consultations must be made to promote a partnership that works.

He hinted that the people should be given the opportunity to participate in development to achieve reasonable impact in the process.

In his view, government role in the process of development is to provide the enabling environment that will promote enterprise and competition in the private sector. Such imput, he noted, has to come through the provision of infrastructures like electricity, good roads and security.

Beemene Taneh