Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
Host Communities of the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Gas Transmission System (GTS) facilities and Corporate Head Office (CHO) in Rivers State have applauded the company over the cordial relationship they have had with them while they continue to operate in their areas.
Noting the years of friendly and happy relationship, the communities said the new Global Memoranda of Understanding (GMoU) was a new paradigm towards community development.
The commendation was made yesterday in Port Harcourt, at the Nigeria LNG launch of GMoU phase two, involving six new clusters (Abua, Egi, Ekpeye, Kalabari, Ogba and Okrika communities).
In his remarks, Member, Rivers State House of Assembly and Committee Chairman on Environment, Hon. Christian Ahiakwo, stated that NLNG has built, “a system that will encourage gender inclusive, reduce suspicion, community unity and cause development.”
He said cluster members should be retained to understand their roles and attract sustained community development.
He added that, “This is a new paradigm towards community development.”
On his part, the communities’ representative, Chief O. Martins expressed joy over the years of peaceful relationship with the NLNG and urged the company for more community benefits.
He said: “Let the GMoU allow the communities to directly manage their resources, especially those hosting the natural gas and pipelines.”
Earlier, in his opening speech, the General Manager, External Relations and Sustainable Development, NLNG, Mr. Andy Odeh, explained that the GMoU was a model for sustainable community development in which communities are grouped in clusters and are empowered to take ownership to drive their development.
He said the company’s previous GMOU with three communities, (Ubeta, Rumuji and Ogbumnuabali), “who are hosts to our GTS facilities and CHO respectively, have been yielding excellent results in those communities.”
According to Odeh: “The decision to take up this model of relationship is based on the yearnings and observed developmental deficits in our GTS communities.
“The need to bridge the infrastructural gaps to alleviate poverty and unemployment whilst building community capacity to drive their affairs necessitated this novel approach for CSR activities.
“The GMOU framework has already been adopted by IOCs such as SPDC, Chevron and Total E&P, for managing relations with their respective host communities and it has proven fruitful over the years.
“While it may seem NLNG is late to the game, we believe our GMOU model will benefit from learnings from the experiences of these IOCs, and therefore, it is assured successful outcomes.
“This GMOU will enable us to achieve the twin objectives of human and infrastructural capacity development in our host communities.
“This is because each community cluster will take a
leadership role to drive its own development by selecting, reviewing and executing its projects based on its identified needs. Of course, this will be in line with identified CSR pillars of NLNG.which are Education, Health, Empowerment and Infrastructures.”
He added: “Communities will not be left to navigate this new terrain alone. Support will be provided by NLNG and other key stakeholders, including the government and technical partners like our mentoring NGOs and the GMOU’s Technical Adviser who are all present with us today”, Odeh explained.
