PUNCH NEWSPAPER

Oil giant, Chevron said it had empowered youths in rural communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

The firm added that it had spent $90m on sustainable development of the region and was poised to do more for other rural communities across the country  in continuation of its intervention programmes.

The General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr Esimaje Brikinn, stated this while speaking during the September Breakfast meeting organised by the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking on the theme,Strategic Social Investment: The Chevron Nigeria Approach, Brikinn, stated that the oil firm had carried out a lot of intervention programmes in host communities with vast infrastructural development across the country.

He said Chevron had empowered community youths through local community engagement, monitoring evaluation and capacity building.

He said the firm hoped with the investments to enhance health, education, and economic development in the communities.

He added that Chevron worked with the government to address the infrastructural deficit in schools by awarding scholarship to support children from vulnerable families stressing that Chevron Global Memorandum of understanding was to identify and tackle the challenges in the communities where it operates.

On his part, the National President, NACC, Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, said it was becoming increasingly clear that the traditional ways of solving social problems solely through government was not sustainable.

He added that businesses globally were declining business models that considered profit first.

Akomolafe who was represented by the Deputy President NACC, Sheriff Balogun, said, “Many years ago, corporations were concerned about what they can take from the society and cared less about giving  back to the host communities, hence rendering those communities uninhabitable and also leading to negative reputation of the corporations. The corporations’ business activities were usually seen as exploitative and greedy.”

According to him, modern businesses have heightened their interest in the role of business beyond and above profit maximization to the awareness of social, environmental and ethical issues.