Omon-Julius Onabu
12 November 2009
Warri — Amid fears being expressed about the obviously slow pace of Nigeria towards meeting the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of the United Nations (UN), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday reassured that it would continue to promote vigorously the 7-point Agenda of the Yar'Adua administration in the spirit of the MDGs.
NNPC Group Executive Director (Refineries and Petrochemicals), Mr. Austin Oniwon, stated this yesterday in Warri at the passing out ceremony of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) - sponsored community trainees on skills acquisition programme.
This came as a meeting of 22-country group, Partners in Population and Development (PPD), at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-sponsored workshop in Abuja on Tuesday, declared Nigeria as lagging behind in meeting the MDGs target, going by certain subsisting development indices in the country.
"Nigeria is one of the richest countries in the world and the world's sixth largest oil producer and yet still struggling to meet the MDGs. It has the capacity to alleviate poverty and move towards sustainable development", the PDD Executive Director, Mr. Harry Jooseery, was quoted as saying at the seminar. "More investments are needed in health and social welfare as these constitute the most important sector. The MDGs cannot be achieved unless we invest to improve the quality of life of our people."
However, Oniwon noted during the passing out of 20 trainees at the premises of the WPRC that the NNPC was supporting the development agenda of the Federal Government "with emphasis on community development as a social responsibility to our stakeholders and the Nigerian public."
He enumerated some of the programmes and projects particularly initiated by the WRPC under this policy as including the construction of "Okugbe Primary School Ekpan, Ubeji Community Town Hall and Ifekporo Health Centre which was recently commissioned and taken over by the Delta State Government as well as the skills acquisition and micro-credit schemes".
He also stated: "As a matter of policy, the NNPC is working towards empowering indigenes in its immediate environment as a form of social responsibility", he said and expressed the hope that subsidiaries of the NNPC like WRPC would be able to do more in this direction with the passage of the OGIC bill granting them autonomy.
"An empowered WRPC will generate more revenue for the operation whilst increasing commitment to the community development", Oniwon stressed while suing for "the cooperation of all stakeholders" to realise this vision.
Earlier, Managing Director of the WRPC, Mr. Andy Yakubu, noted that the "choices of the courses for the programme is derived from the Federal Government's millennium development goals, which include empowerment of members of our host communities for improved development and standard of living of the people through small and medium enterprises (MES's)."
He disclosed that a total of 65 persons (including the 20 trainees at yesterday's event) have benefited from the skills acquisition programme since its inception in 2005, noting that the training has opened a door of opportunities for the beneficiaries,especially as they would be self-employed and even to become employers.
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