The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has expended a total sum of N14.85billion on positive-impact community-driven infrastructure and human development projects under the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) framework.
Disclosing this at the presentation of the 2018 Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes to journalists in Port Harcourt, last Friday, SPDC’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli said that the high-value projects and programmes were implemented in 19 cluster communities since 2006, adding that the projects include health, education, water and sanitation improvement, power supply and other infrastructure development initiatives directly chosen and executed by host communities.
Weli said, “The GMoU initiative has opened a new and exciting chapter in the relationship between SPDC JV and communities, and empowered the people at the grassroots to take charge of their own development”.
Represented by the Manager, Social Investment/Social Performance, Ms Gloria Udoh, Weli noted that the success of the GMoU initiative proved what could be achieved when government, international oil companies, communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work together for the common good.
According to him, “GMoU clusters in Rivers State have recorded landmark achievements, including setting up a Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) at Obio Cottage Hospital, Rumuobiakani, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, where the average number of patients increased from about 600 to about 7, 500 per month in 2017, making it one of the most utilized health facilities in the area.
“Other clusters have awarded local and foreign tertiary scholarships, set up transport schemes, constructed roads, built town halls and markets, trained and equipped thousands in various skills to be self-reliant and employers of labour, and help drive economic transformation of the state,” Weli stated.
He explained that across the four states of Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Abia, SPDC had facilitated the establishment of 37 active GMoU clusters, and funded the cluster development boards to the tune of more than N41billion since 2006.
Weli added that apart from GMoU financing, SPDC has also continued to invest billions of Naira in other lasting impact social and community transformation initiatives in the state, through various development models, including Private Public Partnerships (PPPs).
“We’re proud of our extensive social investment footprints in Rivers State, which in some cases even stretched beyond the SPDC joint venture. For example, to mark Nigeria’s centenary anniversary, Shell exclusively donated a modern public library to the Port Harcourt Library Society in November, 2016 at a cost of N1.58billion,” he emphasized.
He noted that in other social investment initiatives, SPDC had trained more than 800 young men and women under the Shell LiveWIRE programme, which was introduced in 2003 to help young entrepreneurs to convert their bright ideas into sustainable businesses, creating wider employment and income opportunities for communities, adding that “SPDC JV also implements a robust health intervention scheme, supporting 10 hospitals in Rivers State”.