Oil & Gas
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Andrew Yakubu, group managing director, reaffirms the commitment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to initiate and sustain policies that are environment-friendly in its operations
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Jun. 23, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has expressed its determination to initiate and sustain policies that are environment-friendly through the adoption of state-of-the-art technologies and upgrade of its production facilities. Andrew Yakubu, group managing director, NNPC, stated this on Thursday, June 6, at an event to commemorate the 2014 World Environment Day, organised by the group’s health safety and environment department.
Yakubu said the NNPC, as a responsible corporate citizen, has deployed strategies to ensure discontinuation of harmful and unsafe chemicals to environments where its oil facilities are located. “The NNPC has reduced routine gas flaring from over 30 percent to about 11 percent in the last three years. We are pursuing renewable energy development in line with the Kyoto Protocol. We are ensuring pollution control and swift remediation of impacted site whenever they occur,” he said.
The NNPC boss called on Nigerians to collectively address the issues of climate change and strengthen their resolve towards tree planting that would make the environment a better place for sustainable development. He observed that the NNPC as a major player in the oil and gas industry has raised health safety and environment standards, stressing that the event had reaffirmed the corporation’s commitment to staff well-being, safety at work place and environmental protection.
On his part, Engobo Emeseh, a guest lecturer from the United Kingdom, said in his paper titled, ‘Climate Change: It is Time for Action,’ that climate change was the highest security risk confronting contemporary society and which has led to draught, flooding and famine in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
She implored the NNPC and other organisations to embark on operations that are environment-friendly, noting that if effects of climate change were not mitigated, the water level would rise and submerge some of the installations of the Corporation.
The World Environment Day, WED, was established as an annual event in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly to drive, and continuously promote global positive environmental action.
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