Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has remitted $29.8 billion to the Federation Account and another $1.2 billion to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), between 2002 and 2016, its General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, has said.
Weli who was reacting to the shutdown of the oil major’s flow station and gas plant in Belema community by angry youths yesterday in Port Harcourt, said the seizure of SPDC’s facilities by the youth will not only send the wrong signal to the international community, but is capable of discouraging further investment in the Niger Delta.
The youths accused the company of neglecting their community in the provision of infrastructure.
Weli said contrary to people’s expectations, the company doesn’t have the resources to solve world hunger, although it has added value to Nigeria’s growth in several ways. “People are having high expectations from SPDC, they forget the company is not the government and do not have the resources to solve world hunger.”
He said SPDC has made several efforts to sensitise the people on how our business is run so that their expectations can be realistic and align with realities of how we run our business.
“The business we do, add value in several ways through contributions to the Federation Account and the NDDC.
“Between 2012 and 2016, SPDC JV (joint venture) contributed $29.8 billion to the Federation Account which flows down to the state governments, local governments and to the communities,” he stated.
Weli said the company has also set aside three percent of its annual budget to NDDC as its contribution to the development of the region.
He described the closure of the company’s facility as “worrisome” especially as the company and its partners “have spent millions of naira on human and infrastructure programmes in the communities.
“If the youths isolate our corporate social responsibility and put all the burden of infrastructure needs on SPDC, then the expectation would not balance,” saying “in 2016 alone, our contribution to NDDC was $106.8 million. People need to define their expectation; ask themselves if their expectation is realistic and if SPDC is the government.
“People should express their grievances in a way that follows due process to avoid sending the wrong signal to potential investors about how businesses are treated in our society,” Weli said, adding that though the company had set aside N7 billion for the development of the Niger Delta, the funds are yet to be spent due to restiveness. and litigations affecting the implementation of its social investment drive in the communities.