Chevron Reiterates Commitment To Partnership For Sustainable Development

Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has said that it is committed to partnership with various stakeholders including the communities neighbouring its areas of operations in the Niger Delta, for sustainable development. CNL is the operator of the joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and CNL. The company affirmed that it is engaging with relevant stakeholders including the protesters at its Terminal and Escravos Gas—To-Liquid (“EGTL”) jetties, community leaders, traditional rulers, the Board of Trustees (“BOTs”) of the Warri Onshore Host Community Development Trust (“HCDT”), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (“NUPRC”), the Delta State Government, and other critical stakeholders to ensure the peaceful vacation of the protesters who have blocked access to the Terminal and EGTL jetties since November 21, 2023.   The protesters are demanding for the renaming of the Warri Kingdom Onshore Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) and involvement in the nomination of additional persons for inclusion on the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the HCDT. In addition, they are requesting for mobilization of their community workers for the EGTL Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) activities. CNL’s General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Esimaje Brikinn reaffirms CNL’s strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations. “As a law-abiding corporate citizen, CNL is committed and continues to make progress in the operationalization of the respective HCDTs in compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021. We continue to collaborate with the relevant stakeholders, including community leaders and traditional rulers towards the operationalization of the HCDTs. Also, CNL is committed to ensuring the participation of community workers in the EGTL TAM in line with the manpower mobilization plan”, he said. Esimaje stated that contrary to untrue media reports about some protesters that are allegedly missing, verifiable reports on ground indicate that none of the protesters are missing.  He reiterated CNL’s priority on the safety of the people, the environment, and assets in all its operations and noted that CNL will continue to engage the relevant stakeholders to resolve the issues amicably. “CNL advocates respect for the rule of law and use of constructive dialogue in the resolution of all issues,” he concluded.

Dangote Industries Prepare Big For Sustainability Week

Dangote Industries Limited and its subsidiaries are preparing very big for the sustainability week, which starts Monday 23rd to Friday 27th October 2023 The theme for the year 2023 is Sustainable Production and Consumption – The Dangote Way. The week has been designed to be a week-long event to create an opportunity for DIL and its subsidiaries’ employees to volunteer their skills and competencies for community impact initiatives, using time that is paid for by the organisation. While the mother company, DIL, will have an online Sustainability Conference for all staff, where various representatives of the business units will present innovative opportunities for Sustainable Production and Consumption in their line of business to a panel of executives who will evaluate the opportunities for adoption. Other subsidiaries also have a series of events that have been lined up in line with the Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals designed to serve as a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. The week will start on Monday with Volunteer mobilization across the various business locations in Nigeria and Pan Africa. Dangote Cement will host a Sustainable Living Fair and Exhibition on Tuesday, in Ikoyi, Lagos. Notable stakeholders have been invited to attend the Fair, which will be declared open by the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of Dangote Cement, Mr. Arvind Pathak. NASCON also on Tuesday will donate whiteboards to schools in its host community, while Dangote Fertilizer Limited (DFL), will roof 6 classrooms in the Magbonsegun community as it supplies roofing sheets, asbestos, and timber. It will however be done in collaboration with the school’s PTA, and community leaders. Health materials will also be donated by NASCON to Ijoko Health Care Center and Ajegunle Health Care Center. In the same vein, Dangote Petroleum Refinery, from October 23rd to November 2nd, will organize an elderly care program for its host community. The program includes Health talks and medical screening for malaria, infectious diseases, dementia, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, vitamin deficiency, BMI, and eye problems. Elders, who are 65 years and above are the target of this programme and close to 1,000 of such elders have been booked to attend the event. GDNL also for the week has programmed an educational initiative, which will involve three schools in their host community, with a focus on educating the students on the essence of sustainability and climate change challenges, and donation of computers, markerboards and sanitary pads to schools in their community. Dangote Packaging Limited (DPL) will be training the women and in its host community on how to make insecticides locally thereby helping to comeback malaria which is the number 1 ailment in the area. The trained women will also be empowered with a startup kit.It would be recalled that DIL, recently shone like a million stars as its subsidiaries clinched several awards at the just concluded Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Responsibility Awards (SERAs). Dangote Cement Plc won four major awards, including: The Best Company in Sustainability Reporting, Best Company in Stakeholder Engagement, and Overall, Winner – Africa (First Runner Up). Another Dangote subsidiary, Dangote Sugar Refinery (DSR), which was participating in the SERAS for the first time, won the award of Best Company in Poverty Eradication. Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief, Corporate Communications Dangote Industries Limited reacting to the company’s outstanding performance at this year’s SERAS said: “DIL’s approach is focused on mainstreaming sustainable practices and building this into the very fabric of the organization. “The Dangote Way’ underlines the importance that we attach to our people, communities, and other key stakeholders.” A’Court sacks Senate Minority Leader, orders rerun

Oil spill has destroyed Aleto, Eteo communities’ source of water -Group

Health of Mother Health Foundation (HOMEF), has again decried the recent oil spills that ravaged Aleto and Eteo communities in Eleme Local Government of Rivers State, saying it has crippled farming and fishing activities in the area. HOMEF said the spills also destroyed the communities’ only source of potable water. HOMEF and members of Oilwatch Nigeria that paid visits to the two scenes recently for an on-the-spot assessment to ascertain the level of response and possiblecleanup of the affected environment, said it met the environment still in asorry situation as nothing is being done to salvage or clean the pollutions caused by the spills. A statement by HOMEF on Saturday signed by the Media and Communication Lead, Kome Odhomor, Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, expressed displeasure that the oil companies are neither decommissioning their aged infrastructure nor ensuring that their facilities are in good working condition. He regretted that rather than remediating the harm caused by their activities, more investments are being made by the oil companies to expand the areas of threat. Bassey further lamented that two months after the spill occurred, the companies have yet to respond and interface with the communities in any meaningful way. “It was heartbreaking to listen to the lamentation of the community women who now have no source of potable water and cannot process their cassava, a major staple due to the pollution of their stream. The insensitivity of the polluters andregulatory agencies is appalling. These atrocious incidents are also compounding the work of HYPREP. While the agency is working to cleansome areas, these polluting incidents are threatening to erase their efforts.” During the site visits, coordinator, Peoples Advancement Centre (PAC), and member Oilwatch Nigeria Celestine Akpobari, called on NOSDRA andother relevant agencies of government to do the needful and send reliefmaterials to the starving people immediately. “It is sad and very embarrassing that a spill of this magnitude at Eteo would happen in very close proximity to human habitation and the NPDC and the government ofNigeria carries on as if nothing has happened to the people. It is worse that the spill has affected the community’s only source of drinkingwater.  It is not enough to just sneak in at night to clamp the pipe, the right thing must be done.” While receiving the team of CSOs who visited his palace, His Royal Highness Emere Emmanuel T. Akobe the Paramount ruler of Eteo communityexpressed shock over the attitude of the NPDC saying, “Our beautiful stream is dead, my people don’t deserve this type of treatment and afterwe have brought the notice of the National Assembly, there is still noresponse from them, and my people continue to suffer the impact of thespill.” HOMEF reiterates that Aleto and Eteo communities and the entire Niger Delta must not be treated like disposable or sacrifice zones forprofit-seeking endeavours. NOSDRA should be more proactive in meeting thechallenging situations of oil spills in the region, while the polluting companies should urgently halt their polluting activities, clean uptheir spills, and pay compensation to affected individuals andcommunities. The CSOs also demanded that oil companies decommission all aged pipelines and facilities in the region in line with UNEPrecommendations in the assessment of the Ogoni environment.

Africa Social Impact Summit: Entrepreneurs seek $49.6m intervention

African inventors and entrepreneurs are seeking $49 million from investors at the just concluded Africa Social Impact Summit (ASSIS) to scale up their businesses. This is contained in a statement signed by Mrs Olapeju Ibekwe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sterling One Foundation, made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos. The two-event was co-convened by Sterling One Foundation and the United Nations in Nigeria. The summit had as its theme, “Global Vision, Local Action: Repositioning the African Development Ecosystem for Sustainable Outcomes.” Ibekwe said that the Summit featured a deal room with pitches from 18 businesses shortlisted from over 500 applications from across Africa. She said that the finalists, drawn from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria with businesses cutting across health, waste recycling, agriculture and education, had a combined investment bid of about $49.6 million for expansion and production capacity increase. According to her,   the investors are observing due diligence to determine what the successful candidates will access to upscale their businesses. The CEO noted that the gathering of key players from the government, the diplomatic community, civil society and the public and private sectors for the summit, was not a talk shop but a meaningful engagement that would spark the desired impact in Africa. She said that ASIS 2023, being the second edition, was designed to help build partnerships and galvanise investments that would ensure that Africa made rapid progress towards achieving the SDGs. Ibekwe said that with the world halfway through the 15-year timeline set for the actualisation of the SDGs, there had been a call across the globe to review the work done to see what had worked and what had not. He said this was to identify critical areas where additional measures were needed for success to be achieved. She said that the call formed the basis of conversations at ASIS 2023. She said that the call also resonated as former President of Malawi, Joyce Banda; Consuls-General of the British High Commission, USA, Germany and Denmark, including experts in various fields, shared insights into different sustainability strategies. She expressed the hope that several partnerships and innovations would emerge from the summit. The CEO said that she was looking forward to existing social impact initiatives in various rural communities, accessing multilevel resources, to be able to do more and spread their impact from community to community across the continent. She added that she was humbled by the intentionality of the private sector to own the SDGs and expressed gratitude to the partnership of the United Nations as the co-convener of the summit “Across the continent, the people are waiting for action. For far too long, Africa has been tagged the emerging continent, with its potentials a recurring theme of conversation, yet poverty, hunger, climate crisis, and inequality, remain visible; thus, Africa is yearning for action. “I remain confident and incurably optimistic that there is the capacity for the type of action we seek in this room. There is the capacity to build strong partnerships for sustainable solutions to move from plans to action quickly. “I urge everyone to interact and collaborate because the stakes are very high,” Ibekwe said. She said that Mr Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director and CEO of Sterling Bank Limited, explained that the true essence of the Summit was to ensure that at every level, the issues and challenges resulting in widespread poverty across Africa got tackled rightly. “Six months from now, when we reach out for you, we want to hear that because you came here, you met someone, and you established a relationship, you rethought your approach, therefore, are getting more value from your resources, and are better at solving problems together. “The only thing that matters is the relationships you form today and how these relationships transmit to a much better outcome than you had before you came here,” Suleiman, who is also board member of the Sterling One Foundation, said. Ibekwe said that the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Nigeria, Mr Matthias Schmale, said the 2030 Agenda was a clear framework for addressing the challenges facing Africa, which required all to break free from business-as-usual approaches and move together faster. “Governments, NGOs, and civil society cannot tackle our current challenges alone. “If we are to secure a just, sustainable world, we need a whole-of-society approach in which the private sector plays a pivotal role,” Schmale said. While further stating that the promise of the 2030 Agenda was now in peril, he urged more CEOs and investors to adopt the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact. He asked them to hire more qualified women, and ensure that their investments focused on more than just profit, to reflect social impact considerations. He pledged support to the Nigerian Government, citing the Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development, which both parties had agreed to. He also called on more organisations to embrace Public-Private Partnerships to leverage the strengths and capabilities of both sectors to fast-track and scale up major development initiatives.