Shell unveils N2bn projects to celebrate Nigeria’s centenary

Shell has unveiled plans to implement three projects to commemorate Nigeria’s 100 years of modern nationhood.

Worth nearly N2 billion, the project is Shell’s way of identifying with the country’s aspiration and a show of their commitment to a long-term future for Nigeria.

The projects include a 200-seater library in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; a health project at Oloibiri, Bayelsa state; and upgrade of athletics infrastructure in five secondary schools in Delta state.

Shell waid it was implementing the library and health projects exclusively, and funding 30 percent of the cost of the athletics infrastructure upgrade through its share in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) Joint Venture, with the other partners, NNPC, Total and ENI providing the rest of the funding for this project.

“We’re pleased that the projects will deliver significant benefits to the people and help boost literacy, healthcare and youth empowerment, in line with our robust programme of social investments in Nigeria,” Mutiu Sunmonu, SPDC’s managing director and country chair Shell companies in Nigeria, said during a briefing with Anyim Pius Anyim, secretary to the government of the federation.

Responding, Anyim thanked Shell for the projects.

“We celebrated Nigeria’s centenary in February 2014 with the private sector wholly funding the event,” he said.

“It is the first example of its kind. The projects by Shell show that the private sector is continuing to support the centenary celebration.”

Sunmonu formally unveiled the three centenary projects on October 30, at a road show on sustainable development organised in Abuja by SPDC.

The projects are being overseen by implementing partners, the Port Harcourt Literary Society, Federal University, Utuoke and Africare, Nigeria. Representatives of the implementing partners and the Delta and Bayelsa state governments pledged their cooperation for a timely execution of the projects.

The road show itself was an annual public display by beneficiaries of SPDC Joint Venture’s social investment programmes covering health care, the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) youth and women empowerment and education. The theme of the 2014 edition was ‘Partnership for development.”

Nigeria is the largest recipient of social investment by the Shell Group globally.

SPDC and another Shell company in Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), spent more than $100million on voluntary social investment activities in Nigeria in 2013 alone.