Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) remitted $29.8 billion to the federation account and $1.2 billion to Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2002 and 2016, General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, made the disclosure on Monday. Mr. Weli spoke in Port Harcourt while reacting to the shut-down of SPDC fl ow station and gas plant in Belema community by angry youth. Th e youth accused the company of neglecting them and marginalising their community.
Addressing journalists, Mr. Weli said the seizure of the company’s facilities by the youth would not only send wrong signal to the international community, but was capable of discouraging further investment in the Niger Delta. He said: “People are having high expectations from SPDC; they forget the company is not government and do not have the resources to solve world hunger. “SPDC has made several eff orts 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.
“Th e business we do add value in several ways through contributions to the federation account and the NDDC. “Between 2012 and 2016, SPDC JV contributed $29.8 billion to the federation account which fl ows down to the state governments, local governments and to the communities.” Mr. Weli said the company had also set aside three per cent of its annual budget to NDDC as its contribution to the development of the Niger Delta. Th e GM described the closure of the company’s facility as “worrisome” especially as the company and its partners had 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.
