By Our Correspondent
Thursday September 27, 2013 was remarkable in the annals of festivities in the Niger Delta region. The venue was Wellington Hotel Effurun, Warri and the atmosphere was captivating, with cultural performances by troupes from Ilaje, Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities; cutting of cake, recognition and awards, and different presentations by various stakeholders in the Oil and Gas industry. The occasion was tagged “EGTL Family Party” a re-union of over 50 major Local community contractors who worked on Chevron’s Escravos Gas to liquid Project (EGTL).
Men and women from all walks of life – representatives of the Delta State Government, the Nigerian Police, the Management of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Local Community Contractors, traditional rulers and community leaders from Niger Delta communities – gathered to mark the successful completion of the construction phase of the Escravos Gas-to-Liquids (EGTL) project and to appreciate Chevron for the enormous socio-economic benefits the EGTL project afforded them as individuals and their communities in general.
All the speakers took turns to praise Chevron for the commitment to building the capacities of the local community contractors and empowering them to compete favorably with their counterparts including established foreign firms, in various aspects of project construction in such a complex project like the EGTL.
The EGTL construction work involved hundreds of contractors that embarked on engineering, procurement, fabrication and storage activities. Since its inception in 2005, more than 350 companies from Nigeria have supported the project and this has brought immense socio-economic benefits to the Niger Delta communities.All the stakeholders at the event agree that the EGTL project contributed to peace and security to Delta State through infrastructure development such as the utilization of the NPA Delta Port in Warri, capacity building never before attempted on this scale and empowerment through job creation. More than 15,000 Nigerians to date have benefitted from employment opportunities related to the project, over 9,000 from the Niger Delta. In addition, hundreds have been specially trained to facilitate commissioning, start-up, operation and maintenance of the facility, which is scheduled to commence in the coming months.
The celebrants also maintain that the successful completion of the construction phase of the EGTL project has proved that Warri and the Niger Delta region are investment-friendly.They also expressed delight that the EGTL has provided a model for Nigeria on how to work with communities to advance future projects that could provide similar benefits to other parts of Nigeria.
Chairman of the organizing committee of the event, Mr. Edmund Doya-Tiemo, CEO, Broad Global Investment, also noted that the NNPC/CNL’s Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) helped to improve relationship with the communities. In his own remarks.
Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, CEO, Tomba Resources Limited said the EGTL project created the window of opportunities for the integration of members of the local communities particularly indigenous contractors to play leading roles in the oil industry. “The transformation witnessed by local contractors cannot be over-estimated and their involvement in the EGTL interestingly gave credence to the local content policy of the Federal Government,” he said.
Mr. Geoffrey Mason, EGTL Director, Southern Gas Constructors (SGC) said: “EGTL stands as a testament to what can be achieved in Delta State; and it is a project that brought together people from many ethnic groups and allowed them to work peacefully side by side.” Also says Mr. Mick Kraly, EGTL Project Manager, the EGTL project created an atmosphere of unity, trust, love and learning for the participating contractors and workers on the project.
For Mr. Deji Haastrup, General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs (PGPA), it was delightful to see the LCCs put up such a wonderful occasion which testifies to the commitment of the company in building relationships that will engender peace, security, and socio-economic development of communities neighbouring its operations in the Niger Delta.
The contractors assisted by other guests cut the party cake while the high point of the occasion was the presentation of awards to some key EGTL stakeholders including; Chevron Nigeria Limited, Messrs. Andrew Fawthrop, Chairman & Managing Director, Kevin Owens, Jide Ajide, Mick Kraly, John Ashima, Chima Nwogu, Trust Inimgba, Tim Hennessey and Geoffrey Mason of SGC.
Representatives of CNL at the event include Messrs. Emmanuel Imafidon (Director, Business Services) Kevin Owens, (GM, Delta Operations – represented by John Ashima, former EGTL Deputy Project Manager)Deji Haastrup (GM, Policy Government and Public Affairs) Michael Waters, (EGTL Strategic Manager), Chima Nwogu, (Warri Area Manager),Tunji Idowu, (Manager, PGPA West) and Trust Inimgba, (PGPA Superintendent, EGTL)and from SGC:Geoffrey Mason (EGTL Director, SGC) and Tim Hennessey (EGTL Site Business Manager).
