Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has said that 70 per cent of the 4,000 contracts it awards annually, are done by Nigerians.
Shell’s Corporate Government Relations Manager, Mr Harriman Oyofo, said this in a statement issued in Warri, Delta, while reacting to an ultimatum given to the company by Ogbe-Ijoh community in Warri area.
This is in demonstration of our commitment to promoting local content and contracting, Oyofo said.
The Ogbe-Ijoh community in Warri South West had given Shell the ultimatum to address the issue of recognising its traditional ruler, the award of contracts to its people and community development.
Oyofo told the people of Ogbe-Ijoh in Warri South West that SPDC had been trying its best to maintain the cordial relationship between them.
He listed some community development projects which Shell had executed in the community, saying that some of them were handled by Ogbe-Ijoh indigenous contractors.
Meanwhile, the company will tomorrow commit millions of dollars to the development of Gilli-Gilli and Urhonigbe Forest Reserves in Edo State.
The signing of the biodiversity action plan (BAP) will be led by the Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Basil Omiyi and the Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion.
Strategically, the Gilli-Gilli and Urhonigbe Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) happen to be the first ever in the first energy company to commit to a comprehensive Biodiversity policy in the country.
Briefing newsmen at the weekend in Benin City, Oyofo said following detailed study of the two forest reserves, some threats were identified.
According to him, the threats include uncontrolled exploitation of timber and wildlife encroachment, land conversion to farming and the direct and indirect impacts of oil industry activities.
He then listed the conservation priorities to match these major threats of logging, hunting, and management or policy implementation failures as:
“Ensuring the integrity of the reserve through the protection of identified sensitive flora and fauna, under the auspices of a community-based forest of management committee and a grassroots consultative committee.
“A biodiversity baseline inventory to determine species status and demarcation of core, buffer and transaction zone.
Oyofo pointed out that “SPDC’s role is primarily to facilitate the BAP development, provide necessary funding and a platform for the selection of a managing NGO whose responsibility it will be to carry out the implementation of the BAP”.
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