By Tejiri Ebikeme

THE Star Deepwater Petroleum Nigeria Limited, a Chevron Company with its Agbami Co-venturers have donated a fully equipped Chest Clinic to the Rimi General Hospital, Katsina State and a Science Laboratory Complex to Government Science College, Izom, Niger State.

The Co-venturers are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), FAMFA Oil Limited, Statoil Nigeria Limited and Petroleo Brasileiro Nigeria Limited.

Speaking at Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja, venue of the handover, the Director, Deepwater & Production Sharing Contracts, Mr. Jeffrey Ewing, who was represented by Senator Daniel Olugbenga Aluko, Director, Government Affairs of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) said the Chest Clinic comes fully equipped with a standard X-Ray Machine, male and female wards, treatment rooms, labouratories and Gene Xpert machine.

Katsina State Government, he said, provided the land, permits, manpower, electricity and security, thanking the government and people of Katsina State for partnering with “us to ensure the successful completion of the Chest Clinic.”

He also expressed gratitude to the management of Rimi General Hospital and the Project Manager for their efforts in making the building and equipping of the Chest Clinic a reality.

He said “From December 2004 when the Agbami Project contract was awarded, Star Deepwater Petroleum Limited with its Co-ventures in the Agbami Field has consistently made it a point of duty to enhance the development of Nigerian capacities and capabilities in the oil and gas industry for maximum positive impact on Nigeria’s economy. These deliberate efforts have resulted in employment generation, higher local contractors’ participation in the design and fabrication of facilities for the project and training.”

“The Agbami Field is located approximately 70 miles (113 Kilometers) offshore Nigeria. However, in line with the Deep Offshore Community Affairs Group (DOCAG) engagement principles, we view the entire country as the Agbami Community. Consequently, the intervention by the group in the areas of education and health is distributed throughout the Nigeria and is adding value to Nigerians,” he also said.

According to him “Apart from the Chest Clinic we are handing over today, several projects by the Co-venturers, are either on-going or completed across the country. The projects, mainly Chest Clinics, libraries and science labouratories constitute an aspect of the strategic interventions by the Agbami Co-venturers. It would interest you to know that we have donated 23 Chest Clinics to different states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

In addition to the Chest Clinics, he said “We have implemented awareness programmes on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases in several communities across the six geo-political zones in the country. Medications were also made available to the people of such communities.”

Katsina State Commissioner for Health, Mannir Ibrahim Talba who was represented by Dr. Muhamed Qabashiru, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Katsina State, said that the Chest Clinic is one of the most needed projects in the state.

He said, “The centre will enable the state handle patients who hitherto were referred to TB clinics far from Katsina State for treatment – especially those who have developed resistant to regular TB medications. We can now efficiently and adequately treat them. I want to assure that the centre will be a good example; it is going to be a center of excellence not only in the state but the world in general. Tuberculosis (TB) is bad and this chest clinic will help us to tackle it. We are ever ready to collaborate with the Agbami Co-venturers.”

Also speaking, Mrs. Meg Irozuru, representative of Petrobras Nigeria Ltd. said “This health clinic is one of the projects embarked upon by the partners in line with the programme to help improve quality health care across the country. The partners’ interest and commitment to developing Nigeria’s health sector arises from the fact that we are responsive and responsible corporate citizens of Nigeria.”

“Health, they say, is wealth and we believe that by supporting the government to improve healthcare delivery across Nigeria, we are not only fulfilling our Corporate Responsibility to the people, we are also helping to enrich them,” she said.

According to her “We in Petrobras are delighted to see the commissioning of this Chest Clinic today. We are confident that the project will benefit the people as it will help to stem the tide of tuberculosis and other chest-related diseases in Katsina State while encouraging the communities to make good use of the facility so as to derive the benefit of this support.”

Meanwhile, Science laboratory complex made of laboratories for physics, biology and chemistry and fully equipped with modern apparatus and regents had been donated to the Government Science College, Izom Niger State to ensure the complex is conducive for teaching and learning.

Mr. Sam Otuonye, on behalf of Star Deepwater Petroleum Nigeria Limited, a Chevron Company with its Agbami Co-venturers handed over the laboratory complex to Hon. Danladi Umar  Abdulhameed, Niger State Commissioner for Education.

The strategic intervention by the Agbami group in the areas of health and education is distributed throughout Nigeria and is adding value to Nigerians. Agbami co-venturers have built and donated over 10 chest clinics and 20 science laboratory complexes across the country.

Mr. Ahmed Abdulahi represented the Group General Manager of NAPIMS, a subsidiary of NNPC, Mr. Meg Irozuru represented Petroleo Brasileiro Nigeria Limited, Obiina Iheonu represented FAMFA, and Okey Ume Okafor represented Statoil.

Hon. Danladi Umar  Abdulhameed said that; “We  appreciate Agbami’s co-venturers for the science laboratory. In fact the three occasions the Governor visited there for the ground assessment, he was very elated. The Governor, who would have loved to be here today to receive the gifts but for other equally urgent state’s matters told me to express his gratitude to Chevron and its Agbami partners. We are going to replicate the plan of the complex in other schools in Niger State.

The commissioner who noted the importance of education in reducing poverty in country believes the science lab will help in that direction as students of Government College and those in schools close to it now have the opportunity of studying science in the stat of the art science complex.

Mr. Sam Otuonye on behalf of Star Deepwater Petroleum Nigeria Limited Director, DW and PSC, Jeffrey Ewing: Star Deepwater Petroleum Limited and its Co-venturers in the Agbami field said that, “We could not have executed the project without the support of the Niger State government and people of the state. I thank His Excellency, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, CON and the people of Niger State for collaborating with us to ensure the successful completion of the project. The partnership between all the stakeholders in the implementation of the project reminds us of the saying ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’.

“Apart from the science laboratories we are handing over today, several projects by the Co-venturers, are either on-going or completed across the country. The projects, mainly chest clinics, libraries and science laboratories constitute an aspect of the strategic interventions by the Agbami Co-venturers. It would interest you to know that we have built and donated 24 fully equipped, modern Science Laboratory Complexes and also trained Laboratory Technologists and Science Teachers to run these facilities across Nigeria,” he stated.

He also said, “In addition to the science laboratories, we have implemented awareness programmes on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases in several communities across the six geo-political zones in the country. Medications were also made available to the people of such communities.”

He disclosed that “The Co-venturers have also instituted specialized educational scholarship programme in support of health and engineering manpower development in Nigeria through targeted support for medical, nursing, laboratory sciences and engineering students. I am happy to say that some undergraduates of Niger State extraction are beneficiaries of the Agbami Medical and Engineering scholarship programme. The application for the 2015 round of new intakes will soon be out and we encourage more undergraduates from the state with the requisite qualifications to apply.”

“Today’s donation is another demonstration of the Co-venturers’ determined efforts to improve the healthcare system in Nigeria. I therefore encourage our recipients to effectively manage the chest clinic for the benefit of the people and ensure its sustainability,” he stated.