For promoting peace and providing a congenial environment for business to thrive in 2009, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) last Friday, rewarded some host communities in Rivers State with prizes for winning the maiden edition of the Community Role Model Peace Project in Port Harcourt.

The communities are those within Shell Land-1 East areas of operations, which form Port Harcourt-1 and 2, as well as Ogoni, and bring together secondary schools in Bori, Ogale, Igbo-Etche, Igwuruta, Rumuokurusi, Odagwa, Elelenwo, Umuechem, Egwi, Olakwor, in Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Etche, Eleme, and Khana local governments, among others.

The event brought together eight secondary schools, which vied for honours and glory with the projection of the core values of peace in essay and quiz competitions on the topics: “Effects of Pipeline Vandalism on the Environment”, and “Illegal Bunkering: Effects on the Environment and Economy”, as well as a community football competition.

At the end of the keenly contested essay competition,  Gladys Echi of  Elelenwo community came out tops, and was rewarded with N400,000.00 cash, a laptop computer and certificate, among others.

Captain Nwigwe of Igbo-Etche community clinched the second position, just as Chukwudi Okoronkwo took the third place, both rewarded with mouthwatering prizes and certificates.

In the quiz competition, Government Secondary School, Ogale, Eleme, swept through the lot to grab the first position with 14points, a cash reward of N20,000.00, among other prizes.

Community Boys Secondary School, Elelenwo won the second position with 13points while Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, garnered the third position with 12points, and were also rewarded with valuable prizes.

However, in the football competition between PH-1 and PH-2, comprising a selection of talented football players from the participating secondary schools, PH-1 defeated PH-2 by 2-1 to lift the gold trophy and a cash reward of N300,000.00.

Speaking at the football prize presentation ceremony, Shell’s General Manager, Onshore Assets/Asset Manager, Swamp East, Woji Weli, thanked the participating schools from the local communities for promoting peaceful business environment in their areas in 2009, and charged the communities to continue to exhibit high level of hospitality and friendship in order to facilitate the sustainable development of their areas.

Making his presentation to winners of the essay competition, Manager, Government and Community Relations, SPDC, Theo Wellington, said the project was designed to recognize bright youths in the company’s host communities, and hoped that the participating youths will serve as role models by helping others in the communities to channel their minds, energy, time and resources to worthwhile activities that benefit the Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria in general.

He challenged the youths to be more creative and innovative in their career pursuits, and work assiduously towards the promotion of peace and development in their communities, as according to him, once peace is achieved in the rural communities, development and economic growth would be accomplished in the affected communities, local governments and state, and by extension, Nigeria.

In his speech, the Operations Manager, SPDC Land-1 East, Chuks Ikeobi, noted that majority of oil spills in the Niger Delta are the result of sabotage caused when thieves drill into pipelines or open up wellheads to steal oil and natural gas liquids, adding that on the average, these two causes account for more than 70 per cent of all oil spilled from Shell facilities in the Niger Delta over the last five years.

The operations manager assured that for whatever reasons may be adduced for misdirecting meaningful energies into the sabotage of the nation’s strategic economic livewire, as well as delaying the clean-up process by the emergency response teams, Shell was committed to improving its performance in all fronts, reduce the number of spills under its control, while striving to maintain oil production so as to sustain the nation’s economic growth and development.

“Whatever the cause”, Ikeobi said, “SPDC is committed to stopping and containing all spills, recovering and cleaning up as much oil as it can and restoring sites in compliance with regulations”, adding that Shell has “researched and adopted a technique for restoring land sites impacted by oil spills that we believe to be effective for the soil and climate conditions in the equatorial heat of the Niger Delta”.

He tasked host communities to continue to support and cooperate with the company in order to fast-track the development of the Niger Delta region by promoting the core values of peace and non-violence in their day-to-day activities, assuring that Shell would remain their advocate and partner. 

Shell’s Assets Manager, Land – East, Mrs Chidube Nnene-Anochie, presented the Community Peace and quiz prizes to winners of the competition.

Highlights of the event were the presentation of Community Peace plaques, cash ranging from N5,000.00 to N400,000.00, certificates, trophies, LCD television sets, laptop computers, among other prizes to winners and other participating schools, teachers and students.

Nelson Chukwudi