Shell’s Social Responsibility leads the pack in Nigeria oil and gas sector
By Uthman Salami
For over 60 years now, Shell Companies in Nigeria have been actively involved creating value to every stratum that makes up Nigeria. Its multinational status has intimately integrated it into the very firmament that constitutes Nigeria’s economy, politics and overall development. This comprises of Shell Petroleum Development Company, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company ( SNEPCO) and Shell Nigeria Gas ( SNG).
No doubt, considering the torrid and unfriendly state of doing business in Nigeria, any company not ready to develop a system that will counter any unexpected issues — such as insecurity, obnoxious government policies and unpredictable acceptability of the host Community which inadvertently may truncate its smooth operation, dare not begin operations in Nigeria.
But Shell’s managerial ingenuity and corporate social responsibility per excellence were few of many things that has kept the country as household name.
Shell’s power initiative helps Nigerian homes and businesses in areas of power generation, the company brings reliable lighting and electric power to Nigerians especially those in the immediate host communities, and small businesses who’ve never known it before, creating thousands of jobs and educating and training thousands in the process. The company has spent tons of dollars in powering several homes in Nigeria.
Besides its efforts in providing power supply to homes and assisting small businesses to thrive in a very complex country such as Nigeria, Shell’s support for educational development is such an impeccable and tough nut to crack schemes. Some of which involve helping Nigerian communities to provide sustainable and qualitative education that ultimately reaches all her people across the region.
Shell’s CSR initiative covers robust and age-long scholarship programmes.
Since 1950, they have been running robust scholarship programmes, which have supported thousands of students, most especially members of host communities, many of whom are among Nigeria’s business, political and social leaders.
The SPDC JV scholarship programmes is geared at developing Nigeria’s talent for the future. In 2014 alone, over $14.8 million was invested in scholarships by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo).
In furtherance of making efficient impact on Nigerian education sector, Shell’s Graduate Awareness Program, which includes campus fairs, knowledge sharing, career talks and interview skills workshops, focuses on top academic performers at the penultimate and final year classes, and apprises students of new or emerging industry technological developments by providing highly cerebral students with information about Shell, and the types of activities the Company engages in.
Successful graduands are given opportunities at Shell itself.
Some of the institutions who have benefited from this initiative were; University of Abuja; Federal University of Technology, Minna; Federal University of Technology, Yola; American University of Nigeria, Yola; University of Jos; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; University of Maiduguri; Bayero University, Kano; and Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.
Providing Nigerians with opportunities for participation in international competition, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) Joint Venture supported a group of Nigerian students (Team Nigeria), from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the University of Benin (UNIBEN) to participate in the competition in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Shell Eco-marathon challenges student teams from around the world to design, build and test ultra energy-efficient vehicles. With annual events in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the winners are the teams that go the furthest using the least amount of energy.
The company’s desire to promote academic excellence among young Nigerians particularly those from less-privileged background is a known secret. The company also helps in providing tactical framework for the direct transfer of practical and current industry experience to Nigerian university research students.
In 1996, Shell began an initiative that would enable experts, particularly the Shell Professors, from various disciplines in Nigerian universities to help in providing solutions to the company’s Exploration & Production challenges through Research and Development projects.
Intervention programmes through sporting activities
Nigerian yoouth are equally not left out of Shell’s various strategic interventions strategy for developing youths via creating employment opportunities by placing emphasis on self-reliance and entrepreneurship our host communities is aimed primarily at equipping the youths with appropriate skills necessary for.
In 1998, SPDC and its joint venture partners: the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria, and the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, initiated the NNPC/Shell Cup Tournament purposely to unearth and scout for teenage football talent from secondary schools.
In pursuing this, it partnered with one of the most successful youth academies in the world, the Feyenoord Rotterdam’s Youth Academy of The Netherlands. We continue to strengthen the partnership by bringing world-class coaching and player development expertise to Nigeria.
Helping small business owners to break even and improving standard of living
SPDC has structured its economic development programme to enable communities and individuals to increase their income and improve their standard of living.
LiveWIRE Nigeria is a youth enterprise development programme supported by The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).
Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria is an initiative that allows youth enterprise develop. Having started in 2003 in order to provide access to entrepreneurship training, business development services as well as business start-up capital for youth-owned businesses, the programme is providing opportunity for beneficiaries to access fund from financial institutions. As a result, over 6,580 youths have been trained and 3373 have received business start-up grants.
Other programmes such as Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria provides opportunities for young people to realise their potential through the creation and development of their own businesses. While working with other international assistance organisations such as Mercy Corps, Shell keeps helping communities recover from crises and provides families with life-changing skills.
Easy access to medical care and HSE initiative of Shell
Shell is working in hand-in-glove with global partners in supporting health system, strengthening programs in order to fight the spread of diseases. During COVID-19 pandemic, Shell furthered its assistant in the global fight against the virus, and to support recovery efforts.
The company’s strategic operations help in reducing environmental impact of oil activities to the bearest minimum by synergising environmental and social benefits to the communities to their host Community.
The standards being adopted when issue of oil spill arises is the same standards and practices they use other Shell operations anywhere in the across the globe. They clean up as quickly as possible and remediate the land wherever there are issues of spillage.
As stated in Nigerian constitution in reference to operational oil spills, Shell pays compensation as stipulated by Nigerian law. Once clean-up and remediation are completed, the work is inspected, approved and certified by the Federal Government regulators – the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
Paying Millions of US Dollars into federal government purse year in year out.
Royal Dutch Shell the parent company of SPDC paid $3.24 billion to the Federal Government and its agencies in 2020. The payment to Nigeria is the highest from a total of $13.11 billion paid to 24 countries in 2020 where Shell has upstream operations. The oil giant also paid $5.63 billion to Nigeria; $6.39 billion in 2018, $4.32 billion in 2017, $3.64 billion in 2016, and $4.95 billion in 2015.
According to the report, Shell paid $2.27 billion to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as production entitlement; $440.39 million was paid in taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Their reports further shows that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was paid $451.50 million for royalties and fees, while $73.41 million was paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Overall, Shell paid $47.3 billion to governments in 2020, these include $3.4 billion in corporate income taxes and $3.5 billion in government royalties.
The company remitted about $986million in taxes and royalty to the Federal Government in 2021.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited, paid $5.63 billion to the Nigerian government in 2019.
The payment is the largest payout out of a total $22.63 billion the company said it made to about 28 host-governments covering countries where it has exploration and production activities around the world.
The closest rivals to the payment to Nigeria were payments the company said it also made to Malaysia $3.84 billion, and Norway ($3.07 billion).
SPDC in Nigeria directly employ around 2,700 people and more than 9,000 contractors. Most Shell’s staff 97 per cent are Nigerians. In supporting Nigerian companies, 100 per cent of Shell contracts in Nigeria, worth $800 million, were awarded to Nigerian companies. The company also provide almost $1.6 billion in loans to hundreds of Nigerian vendors under the Shell Contractor Support Fund.
