By Brakere Birinimighan
Chevron Nigeria Limited, (CNL), operator of the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture, was recognized for its outstanding performance in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as the company was presented with two awards during the Industry dinner and awards night organized as part of the activities to mark the official opening ceremony of the 2019 edition of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on Monday January 28, 2019.
The two awards to CNL are – the “Award for contributions to the hydrocarbons industry,” and the Foreign Investment Network’s (FIN) “Award for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility.”
CNL’s Chairman and Managing Director, Jeff Ewing received the two awards – the first award presented by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, and the second presented by the Chief Executive Officer of FIN, Michael Dragoyevich.
The event was attended by many dignitaries including the Governor of Kebbi State, Petroleum Ministers from other countries including Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Cote D’Ivoire, Chad, Niger Republic, Togo and Norway as well as representatives of the NNPC/industry regulators, participants from other African countries, and other industry players.
Speaking on the award, Esimaje Brikinn, CNL’s General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs (PGPA) expressed the company’s delight over the recognition and awards.
He explained that the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture is a major oil and gas producer and has provided substantial revenue to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Government and State Governments for over 50 years.
He also stated that the company is the leading domestic gas supplier and has made great strides in putting out gas flares and increasing gas supply to the domestic market through its integrated gas development projects. Chevron is the largest domestic gas supplier in Nigeria, he said.
On corporate responsibility, Mr. Brikinn noted that CNL has demonstrated its commitment to the ideals of social responsibility and community development in the thematic areas of health, education, economic development.
“CNL has provided thousands of scholarship awards worth billions of naira to Nigerian students. CNL has also established the Scholarship for the Blind to cater for the visually-impaired students,” he noted.
He informed that the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), a community-led participatory partnership model for community engagement and sustainable development, was pioneered by CNL in 2005.
“CNL continues to contribute funding (running into billions of naira) to the Regional Development Committees (RDCs) that represent the communities in its area of operations to execute hundreds of projects in the communities through a governance model that ensures transparency and accountability.
“The projects which cover the areas of education, health, housing, scholarships, economic development, etc., have benefited over 600,000 people and assisted in enhancing the quality of life in these communities,” he stated.
Mr. Brikinn also noted the efforts of other Chevron companies in social contributions in Nigeria. For instance, the Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited (a Chevron Company) and the other parties in the Agbami afield have also contributed to the sustainable development of Nigeria via interventions in health, education and economic empowerment.
“From 2008 to 2017, the Agbami parties have invested N2.5billion in education infrastructure, N8.4 billion in scholarships and N2.2 billion in the provision of fully equipped modern chest clinics across the country.
“Over 16,000 students from all the states of Nigeria have benefitted from the Agbami Medical and Engineering Professionals Scholarship. Among these, an impressive total of 456 have graduated with first class degrees,” he disclosed.
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