Chevron Nigeria says it will continue to drive sustainable socio-economic development through its interventions in critical sectors of the country.
Brikinn Esimaje, Chevron General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, said this during the September Breakfast Meeting of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) on Thursday in Lagos.
The meeting was themed: “Strategic Social Investment: The Chevron Nigeria Approach.”
Esimaje said that the oil giant has added value to the country through its strategic social investment support that had improved access to healthcare, education, and socio-economic development.
“Twenty eight chest clinics, equipped with the right equipment, had been built and donated to institutions and hospitals across the country.
“This is part of Chevron Nigeria contribution to support efforts to control, treat and eradicate tuberculosis in the country.
“To ensure sustainability of the projects, the firm ensures that they were integrated into existing health plans,’’ Esimaje said.
He said that Chevron partnered with Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and also for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
According to him, interventions in the education sector includes provisions of e-library and hybrid libraries, provision of scholarship to students and building of about 38 science laboratories in schools across the country.
He said that the firm ensured proper monitoring of the academic progress of beneficiaries of its scholarships to ensure optimum performance.
According to him, Chevron’s footprint can also be felt in ensuring sustainable environment preservation, adding that it had spent about N60 million to ensure that the Lekki Conservation Centre continues to function.
“In 2005, Chevron evolved the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) model in its corporate social investments projects to allow participation of community stakeholders in projects.
“It has spent about N22 million through the GMoU on various projects that has helped to improve infrastructure projects, increase household incomes, employment, and growth of small businesses.
“The model has brought relative peace to Chevron’s areas of operation, though more still needs to be done,” Esimaje said.
Earlier, Alhaji Sheriff Balogun, NACC Deputy President, said it had been proven that companies around the world engage in social investment efforts to promote local development and to benefit stakeholders in their operations.
According to him, businesses have heightened their interest beyond and above profit maximisation to the awareness of social, environmental and ethical issues.
“It is therefore necessary to state that public outcry will not cease if business organisations fail to respond to the challenges these pose for the society,” he said.
He said that for the private sector, effective social investment programs could help companies gain a social license to operate, access land, reduce project and reputation risks and boost productivity.
