Featured, Oil & Gas
By Anayo Ezugwu
DESPITE challenges facing global oil and gas industry, Shell has continued to make landmark investment in Nigeria. In 2019, Shell’s Nigerian businesses, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC; Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo, and Shell Nigeria Gas, SNG, made direct social investments of $40 million in Nigeria.
These investments made Nigeria the largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group. The investments were in access to affordable healthcare; supporting education; enterprise support; accelerating access to energy, and assistance and safety. The companies undertake direct social investment across Nigeria, which focuses on community and enterprise development, education, community health, access-to-energy, road safety and since 2018, biodiversity.
The oil and gas company is also into community-driven development programmes and initiatives in the Niger Delta, which focus on various themes as determined by benefitting communities and delivered through a Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU. The companies have 39 active GMoUs in Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo and Rivers states. In 2019, three new GMoUs were deployed and 10 GMoUs renewed.
The GMoUs provide a secure five-year funding for communities to implement development projects of their choice. According to Shell, the GMoU projects cover community health, education, enterprise development and social infrastructure, such as improved water and power supply, and sanitation. ”Since 2006, a total of $252 million has been disbursed to communities through these GMoUs.
“Affordable quality healthcare is a critical enabler to any community. It improves health indicators and outcomes and strengthens families, educational attainment and business opportunities. Shell has supported community health programmes in Nigeria since the 1980s with equipment and pharmaceutical donations, emergency care and screening services, hospital maintenance and focused interventions on HIV/AIDS, malaria, cancer and vision care. Today, Shell seeks to increase access to health services, introduce health insurance schemes and strengthen health systems.
“Shell continues to work with key stakeholders to achieve universal health coverage by increasing access to health and the uptake of services in the communities. The SPDC JV and SNEPCo support 20 healthcare centres and signature intervention projects throughout the country. Some of the projects include health-in-motion community care programme, Community Health Insurance Scheme, and Oloibiri Health Programme, OHP,” it said.
“In 2019, the SPDC JV and SNEPCo invested $7.8 million in scholarships. Since 2011, the schemes have awarded more than 9,400 secondary school grants and over 6,000 university grants to students. The SPDC JV and SNEPCo invest in the Cradle-to-Career scholarship programme, which pays for children from rural communities to attend some of the country’s top secondary schools. The SPDC JV has awarded a cumulative 600 Cradle-to-Career (c2c) scholarships in the Niger Delta.
“In 2014, SNEPCo began offering these scholarships to applicants across the country, and so far 471 students have benefitted. Since 2010, more than 1,000 students have received scholarships. The scholarships cover the full cost of tuition, travel, accommodation, uniforms, books and laptops. Students completing the c2c secondary school scheme also receive support from Shell through the University Scholarship scheme. This support is dependent on them securing admission to a Nigerian University.
“Lack of world-class research institutions and limited access to technology are key challenges in enabling Nigerians to play an even greater role in the oil and gas sector. Shell invests in advancing education through university scholarships, student exchange programmes and focused research. Since 2011, the SPDC JV and SNEPCo have awarded more than 6,000 university scholarships.
As part of the drive to motivate students and reward the high performers in the University Scholarship Scheme, the highest-achieving students are then also given the opportunity to participate in the SPDC JV Students Industrial Work Experience, SIWE programme.
“The SPDC JV also established the Shell Niger Delta Post-Graduate scholarship programme, which has benefitted 92 students from the region over the last decade. The programme offers one-year scholarships to three UK universities for studies related to the oil and gas industry.
To promote the emergence of industry-ready graduates at university level, Shell also invests in specific initiatives at Nigerian universities. The SPDC JV, in collaboration with the University of Benin, funds a Centre of Excellence, CoE, in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering and has more recently (in 2017), collaborated with the Rivers State University to set up a CoE, which specializes in Marine and Offshore Engineering.
“The CoEs offer specialized post-graduate degrees in Geosciences, Petroleum Engineering and Marine and Offshore Engineering respectively. Each programme lasts for 18 months and culminates in a six-month internship with an oil and gas company, some within Shell. By the end of 2019, over 75 students had graduated from the programmes and over 81 percent of these graduates are currently employed.”
– Oct. 31, 2020 @ 16:05 GMT |
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