Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has engaged 500 youths in an experiment to protect pipelines delivering crude to Bonny through the volatile Ogoni areas.
Shell said in Port Harcourt on Thursday that it borrowed the idea from other areas in Bayelsa and Rivers states where the cluster system of development through an agreement had cut down pipeline vandalism.
Shell said communities will take on more responsibility for monitoring oil theft along the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Ogoniland under agreements signed with SPDC Joint Venture.
“The agreements were signed last month as part of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) model deployed extensively by SPDC in social investment initiatives in recent years. A GMoU is a written statement between SPDC and clusters of local communities, typically based on local government or clan affinities and represented by Cluster Development Boards (CDBs)”, Nedo Osayande, general manager, sustainable development and community relations, said.
Source: BusinessDayOnline