Adopt Dialogue in Resolving Issues, Orubebe Tells IOCs

This Day

18 August 2011

Adopt Dialogue in Resolving Issues, Orubebe Tells IOCs

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Peter Orubebe, has admonished the international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Niger Delta to imbibe the spirit of dialogue in resolving all issues with their host communities and other companies in the region.

Orubebe spoke in his office in Abuja while receiving the management of Shell Petroleum Development Company led by the Executive Vice President, sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Ian Craig, who paid him a courtesy visit

Orubebe noted that most of the issues in the Niger Delta have been resolved through dialogue, adding that “all issues resolved through dialogue bring permanent peace”. He therefore urged Shell and other companies operating in the region to embrace dialogue as a way to permanently resolve issues with communities.

The minister, who observed that his ministry had conducted several training programmes for the non-militant youths in the Niger Delta, sought the assistance of Shell and other multi-national companies to develop an agenda that will ensure that the graduands are gainfully employed after their graduation to avoid creating another problem in the future.

“I believe there should be an agenda to be propelled by Shell and other multinational oil companies to ensure that the youths after their training do not constitute another source of unrest in the future,” he said.

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President Goodluck Jonathan's transformation agenda in the Niger Delta, he said, can only succeed when there is peace and tranquillity in the region, pledging his ministry’s readiness to ensure the sustenance of existing peace in the region.

Speaking earlier, the Managing Director, SDPC Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Summonu, reaffirmed Shell’s commitment in working conscientiously with the communities in particular and the Federal Government in general, and re-emphasised that “Shell’s commitment is unshaken”