NLNG points to over N38.7bn boost to Rivers economy

The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) has declared over N38.7 billion it may have pumped into Rivers State, especially in Bonny Island, to boost the economy of the host state.

The company also says it has put down another N5 billion to upgrade the Bonny Vocational Centre (BVC), which had already gulped N3 billion.

The company used the opportunity of the award ceremony of 15 post-graduate scholarships in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to reveal what it had been doing to support the developmental strides of the host state since its inception, saying the company had so far pumped over N20 billion into corporate social responsibility (CRS) infrastructure projects in Bonny.

Kudo Eresia-Eke, general manager, external relations, NLNG, said in a speech at the occasion that the company also paid N6 billion yearly in taxes to the host state government. This could amount to N18 billion in the past three years or more that the NLNG had relocated to Port Harcourt following ceaseless pressure by the Chibuike Amaechi administration backed by huge commitments, especially on security, to woo the company to the Garden City.

Giving a breakdown of the spending mostly in education and skills development, Eresia-Eke said NLNG was spending between N9 million and N13 million on each of the 15 graduates heading to the United Kingdom through the handling of the British Council in Nigeria, a project that could gulp over N165 million. He said 23 others had gone in the first earlier two batches since 2013.

The company, according to him, has a scheme of topping up the salaries of teachers posted to the island, which has gulped N270 million so far. The NLNG scholarship scheme has consumed N1 billion so far, while Universal Support Programmes (USP) to six Nigerian universities has so far gulped N1.5 billion.

Eresia-Eke reminded the people of Rivers State that the NLNG had just committed N4.5 billion to build what he called a world-class secondary school in Bonny to match the model built by the out-gone administration in some other zones of the state. There is the annual prize for Science and one for Literature at $100,000 each, which has been running since 2004, now probably gulping up to N500 million so far.

Despite these, protests had erupted in the state, especially in Bonny few weeks ago when news broke that NLNG was floating a dry-dock in Badagry, but despite denying being the actual financiers, groups had pelted the company for insensitivity to the plights and interests of the oil region. The company had struggled to show it was corporately alert to the desires of the host state and the Bonny Kingdom.

“Clearly, education is at the heart of our CSR activities, focused mainly on our host communities and indeed the state, Rivers. In fact, 95 percent of our spending on CSR is in Rivers State, of course highly skewed towards Bonny,” Eresia-Eke said.

To the 15 awardees, five of who were indigenes of Rivers State, Eresia-Eke urged them to make the most of the rare opportunity, which had eluded about other contestants.

“Last word to awardees! Always remember that this scholarship was awarded to you for the over all benefit of Nigeria as part of NLNG’s efforts to help build a better Nigeria,” Eresia-Eke said.

Speaking on behalf of the British Council, the director of programmes, Louisa Waddingham, said it was important that the NLNG invested in the future of Nigeria, saying the programme was the most rewarding thing she had executed so far in Nigeria.

She reminded the beneficiaries of the strength the UK possessed in education management and in cultural experience. “So, expect a life-changing experience,” she told the excited scholars.

The permanent secretary in the state ministry of education, Minabelem Michael-West, said education was capital intensive and required the contributions of giants such as NLNG. One of the 2013 beneficiaries, Tamunoemi Joseph, who studied Subsea Engineering in Newcastle University, UK, told a touchy story of how he missed out on the Rivers State postgraduate scholarship only to nick the NLNG highly competitive contest.

Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Stephen Oke Oluwaseun, heading to Cranfield University (UK) to study Intellectual Property Law, said the team appreciated the huge investment in them and promised never to disappoint Nigeria.