Host Community Trust Fund: Oriental Energy Trains Mbo Community, Stakeholders on Sustainable Community Development
By Ekemini Simon
Oriental Energy Resources Limited has commenced a capacity building programme on sustainable community development planning and management of select community representatives of its host community of Efiat in Mbo local government area among other stakeholders of Akwa Ibom State.
The capacity building programme which started on Monday, July 25, 2022 is slated to hold for 5 days and is part of the company’s social investment in the community.
In his welcome address, Mustafa Indimi, the managing director, Oriental Energy Resources Limited, , said the decision of the company to carry out the 2022 edition of capacity building is to prepare its communities and stakeholders for the establishment of Host Community Development Trust Fund as provided for in the 2021 Petroleum Industry Act.
Represented by the Head, Community Relations, Mr Uwem Ite, the managing director noted that the Host Communities’ Development Trust Implementation Template released in June 2022 by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) outlines the role and responsibilities of the oil and gas companies as well as communities.
He said to give life to their role, the company decided to provide a 5-day capacity building programme that will focus on specific modules such as community needs assessment and prioritization for implementation, preparing project proposals and scope of work, budgeting for sustainability, and sourcing external funding for community development.
Others are contracting and procurement processes, financial reporting and auditing, effective communication and development, role of non-governmental organizations in community development, mainstreaming gender for sustainability, establishing and sustaining relationships with donor agencies, monitoring and impact evaluation of projects and programmes and assessment of outcome and measurement of impacts of projects and programmes.
Indimi assured that at the end of the training, participants will become sustainable community development champions and Ambassadors adding that the company will expect them to be ready to make positive contributions toward the process of successful establishment and management of Host Community Development Trust Fund.
The Managing Director added “This stems from the fact that the process of sustainable community development requires effective, result-oriented and purpose-driven leadership by stakeholders from communities as well as public and private sectors. As such, meaningful and sustainable community development thrives only within an environment of peaceful co-existence among the stakeholders.
“Oriental Energy believes in creating positive sustainable footprints through projects and programs that improve the quality of life of people in various communities. We are therefore fully committed to contributing to sustainable community development. Our proactive stakeholder engagement with community and government stakeholders as well as our strategic social investments in Akwa lbom State are clear indicators that we consider communities and government as critical stakeholders in our business”.
Indimi who offered insight into the fact that the company’s core areas of social investment interventions are community health, education and human capital development; enterprise development and support as well as capacity building for sustainable community development noted that Oriental Energy has several completed and ongoing projects and programmes which attest to their philosophy on social investments.
While commending Kunysons Konsult Limited for implementing the capacity building and Akwa Ibom State Government for the support he assured that the company will not let up in their social investments in its communities and beyond.
In a message, the Commissioner for Power and Petroleum Development, Dr John James Etim, thanked Oriental Energy for organizing the capacity building stressing that the gesture stands the company out as a responsible organization that has made tangible investment in providing Corporate Social Responsibility to its Host Communities.
The Commissioner who was represented by Emmanuel Inyang, an engineer, said the company’s choice of capacity building was important especially as Sustainable development has been a challenge to many institutions in the country evidenced in abandoned projects, misplaced needs assessment, failed projects/programmes among others.
He added ” I believe that the specific modules provided in the training manual will accord the stakeholders the knowledge in assessing community needs, preparing project proposal and scope of work, contracting and procurement processes, which are in line with the processes of managing CSR in the Host Community Development Trust Fund (HCDTF) regime of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.
The Commissioner recommended that the training should open a window for both the Company and Host Communities to consider the participants as prospective appointees into the organs of the HCDTF.
While calling on the participants to take full advantage of the capacity building, Etim pledged the commitment of the government to cooperate with the company by ensuring they have a peaceful working environment even as the government is poised to monitor their compliance with extant laws.
In a goodwill message, The Commissioner for labour and manpower planning, Mr. Aniefiok Nkom who was represented by a Director in the ministry, Mr Sunday Umana, eulogized Oriental Energy for their social investment programmes. Nkom, who said their capacity building is in line with the completion agenda of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration, charged the company not to tire out.
On his part, The Chairman of Mbo Local Government Area, Mr Asuquo Eyo appreciated the efforts of the company in impacting lives in its host communities.
Represented by Mbo Vice Chairman, Mary Ating, the Chairman said Oriental Energy is the only Oil and Gas company operating in Mbo that contributes to the local government through the rates and levies it pays.
While noting that the people were delighted to have the company in their domain, the chairman assured of maximum support.
A stakeholder in the area, Asuquo Okpo applauded the company for the capacity building and assured of support from the people. “We are ready to support Oriental Energy to have smooth operations. But we will want to tell them that we are downtrodden people. So, like Oliver Twist, we will continue to ask for more”.
The Zonal Coordinator, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr Uduak Obot, commended Oriental Energy for the initiative to stand among first lines of companies that train communities on the imperatives of Host Community Development Trust Fund.
Obot, who said the gesture by the company was part of their compliance to the local content law, called on other oil and gas companies to emulate.
” Oriental Energy, we are proud of you. You. Oriental Energy is one of the local companies who are doing what the local content law demands. However, there are areas that still need improvement. But, so far, we are proud of you.”
The Zonal coordinator charged the participants to cascade to their communities the information gathered from the capacity building so that they can have a robust and effective Community Development Trust Fund.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Kunyson’s Konsult Limited, Mr. Unyime Robinson, thanked Oriental Energy for aligning its social investment programmes with Sustainable Development Goals.
While offering insight to the benefit available from the capacity building programme, he added “Oriental Energy Resources Limited has demonstrated that business has social responsibility and goes beyond profit making. This philology is defined through her various interventions in the areasof health, education, skills acquisition/capacity building, job creation among others and we proudly identify with OERL. Kunysons Konsult would continue to partner with Oriental Energy Resources Limited to re-strengthen their relationship with the host communities, stakeholders and ensure community ownership in delivering OERL social investment with the people.”
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Chairman, Efiat Community Relations Committee, Inam Okon, said the community is delighted over the capacity building module. He noted that with the module, they envisage to be impacted with knowledge that will help them effectively utilize the Community Development Trust Fund for the uplift of their area.
He added ” Oriental Energy has been outstanding in its social investment in our community. It has become a yearly ritual and because of that, we have never disappointed them and we promise to continue standing by them”.