N’Delta: Shell Spends N7bn on Infrastructure in 8 Months

Contrary to insinuations that the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) had not done much for its host communities in the Niger Delta, the oil giant said Friday that it had spent at least N7 billion on providing basic infrastructure between January and August this year.

Representatives of the multinational company told journalists in Yenagoa , Bayelsa State, during a two-day SPDC-JV Integrated Stakeholders Engagement that much of the funds were used in financing General Memoranda of Understanding (GMoUs) with the host communities including building schools, hospitals and skills acquisition.

Dr. Alice Ajeh, the company’s Stakeholders Relations Manager, who represented Mr. Igo Weli, General Manager External Relations, said on the sidelines of the event which was also attended by the security agencies, that the funds were jointly managed by Shell, government and the communities.

“We have spent N7 billion in the Niger Delta this year in the GMoU clusters, not in Bayelsa alone. What happens with the GMoUs is that we agree with the communities in the programme they will have and shell puts money into it. So that money goes into an account that shell, government and the communities operate.

“Many of the areas include health , education, entrepreneurial development and other infrastructural development. But that is what has been released, it does not mean that that is all we are spending,” she said.

The company also reiterated its earlier position that it had between 2012 and 2016 along with its partners contributed $29 billion to the Nigerian government while $1.8 billion was paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) since inception in 2002.

Data made available by the oil company also indicated that its share of royalties and corporate taxes paid to the Nigerian government stood at $ 1.04 billion in 2016, while 94 per cent of Shell’s contracts were now awarded to Nigerian companies amounting to $ 0.74 billion.

It also showed that 96 per cent of the entire Shell employees in the country were Nigerians while direct spending on social investment by the company and its partners was $29.8 million.

Ajeh said the consultations with stakeholders had become important so as to iron out areas of disagreements as well as update them on the direction the oil and gas industry was headed globally.

“We are here because we believe that we need to discuss with our stakeholders and we are holding these meetings according to clusters. We are opening up the conversation. It’s not about Shell but about the Niger Delta, our challenges, but also challenges of the delta and how we can solve them,” she said.

The Shell representative added , “We would like everybody to see the issues the way we see them and also make recommendations and solutions as a people. We are bringing global issues to the people’s attention.