Community participation: Seplat devices strategies for greater integration

Vanguard
27 December 2010


Community participation: Seplat devices strategies for greater integration

SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Limited, a joint venture indigenous firm, has developed strategies to integrate its host communities with its operations in the Niger Delta.

This is with a view to not only ensuring the security of operations, but also to make the communities have a sense of belonging in its areas of operations.

Explaining further on the strategies, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Seplat, Mr. Austin Avuru, told journalists in Lagos that what the oil company, which recently acquired three Shell oil blocks in the Niger Delta, is trying to do is to improve the living condition of every community impacted by its operations; even it is by way of pipeline routes.

He said, “We are trying to move away from just building classroom blocks or constructing boreholes, but to deliberately give our host communities a sense of belonging in what we do, that we are not just here for profit-making, but also to give something back.”

In this regard, he said that Seplat gives the communities the first chance in terms of hiring and contracts execution without compromising standards.