Group calls for promotion of community engagement standards

Community unrest has been identified as a primary factor responsible for the volatility in the Niger Delta region which has seen crude oil pipeline vandalised, kidnapping of oil workers and decline in crude oil production and export in Nigeria.

To address this challenge, a group of stakeholders are calling for the promotion of sustainable Community Engagement Standards (CES) which is seen as a veritable means of bringing a lasting peace between the host communities and oil companies in the region.

CES was developed by CSR-in-Action with support and funding from the Facility for Oil Sector Transformation and Reform (FOSTER II) following painstaking and extensive engagement with stakeholders in nine extractive-focused states in Nigeria, including Lagos, from which salient data was obtained for designing a step-by-step guidance document for engagement with communities throughout the life cycle of a project.

The CES was adopted by the Office of the Vice President of the Federation and government parastatals such as the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources (FMPR), including its agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Federal Ministry of the Environment (FMEnv) and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA), during a two-day workshop in April 2019.

PHOTOS: Activists storm DSS headquarters over continued detention of Sowore

It has also received the approval of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

According to Bekeme Masade-Olowola, Chief Executive, CSR-in-Action, “CSR-in-Action’s commitment to the advancement of sustainability in Nigeria and the African continent has seen us structure interventions and design events to advance overall the global sustainability agenda.”

She noted that the unveiling of the CES document will promote sustainability practices in Nigeria beginning from the extractive space.

Engr. Kamoru Busari, Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, commended CSR-in-Action for its giant stride in developing Nigeria’s premier Community Engagement Framework, the CES and its commitment to advocating for sustainability in the extractive industries.

He said that “I am proud of our association with CSR-in-Action, and the fact that our teams have worked together towards building a tool that has the potential to solve the crisis we have in the Niger Delta, by its sheer simplicity and detail. If we in the government agencies can work with businesses to implement the guidance in the CES in good spirit, we will eradicate conflict within oil-producing communities.”

In the same vein, Ademola Henry Adigun, Team Lead, FOSTER II, said that the project’s decision to support CSR-in-Action in developing the CES “is based on the need to engender sustainable development by ensuring that extractive companies adopt best practice in engaging stakeholders in their host communities noting that it has become expedient for oil companies to take responsibility for their impact in the communities and the CES will provide a focused and all-encompassing approach to achieving this”.

Nigerian Tribune