Ngozi Ekwueme
Lagos — In furtherance of its corporate social responsibility, NNPC, TotalEnergies and partners have commissioned projects in Osun, Kwara, Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Benue and Rivers States.
The projects range from fully equipped solar borehole and water treatment plants, women development and skills acquisition center, solar-powered science laboratory, mammography center and model secondary school.
While the Imesi ile community in Osun state and Federal Government College, Enugu, Enugu state got a solar-powered borehole and water treatment plant, the Omu-Aran community in Kwara state received a women development and skills acquisition center.
The borehole with treatment plant is solar powered, comprising Grundfos submersible pumps, powered directly by solar panels via solar charge controllers as power source as well as containerized aeration tank which ensure the protection of both the treatment plant and the quality of water from the borehole. It has a capacity of 40,000 litres of treated water in four 10,000 liters GPee tanks with 8 dispensing points. The solar panel and batteries powered facility will ensure constant renewable energy and help to improve the environment through reduction in emission of greenhouse gases.
A self-sustaining women development and skills acquisition center consisting of four training halls for fashion designing and tailoring, catering and hotel management, computer training and mixed training facility, sick-bay, over 400-seater auditorium and lounge supported with a solar power generating unit and a 40KVA generator was handed over to the Omu-Aran Community in Kwara State and the Buguma community in Rivers state.
Also, the National High School, Arondizogu in Imo state, got a fully equipped school science laboratory for Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Agricultural Science, and Home Economics subjects.
The building houses 5 laboratories for each study, with solar-powered support and a 60KVA soundproof backup generator, a borehole system with two water tanks and 8 lavatories. There is provision for laboratory apparatus suitable for learning and experiments with safety equipment and system installed.
One of the projects commissioned is a mammography center inside the General Hospital, Onitsha in Anambra state.
The center which can process 120 examinations per day is fully equipped with state-of-the-art facilities including a main reception and waiting area of 20 persons sitting capacity, a radiology office, mammography technicians’ bay and changing rooms, clinical examination rooms and treatment room, and supported by a 40KVA generator for stable power supply. The treatment room has the Bard Magnum Breast Lump Biopsy set for image-guided breast lump biopsies as well as Senographe Pristina 3D equipment which delivers 3D imaging at the lowest radiation exposure with superior diagnostic accuracy in the detection of breast cancer. This equipment offers digital breast tomosynthesis and stereotaxy for enhanced image-guided biopsy.
Government College, Makurdi, Benue state was provided with a solar-powered model secondary school project. The project consists of a well-designed administrative block with 4 fully furnished offices, 10 offices for teachers and technical rooms, 12 furnished classrooms, 5 cutting-edge science laboratories, two libraries, 1 fully equipped ICT laboratory, a sick bay, a first aid room and storage facilities.
In his address at the ceremony, Mike Sangster, Managing Director, TotalEnergies Upstream Companies in Nigeria, said the completion and commissioning of the projects are in furtherance of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to positively impact the lives of its host communities in Nigeria.
According to him, the projects scattered across the country were borne out of the need to mitigate the gaps in qualitative and technical education, maternal and child health, access to clean water, and women and youth empowerment.
“The projects are in congruence with the related United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. The locations of these projects have also been very carefully chosen for maximum impact, coming from a need assessment carried out before the deployment.
He said that the locations of these projects were carefully chosen for maximum impact, coming from a needs assessment carried out before the deployment.
“It is important to note that these projects were realised using the novel approach of “Project Managers.
“This approach which is new in the industry, permits the delivery of projects in remote and challenging environments while ensuring the use of local expertise and stakeholder engagement. I am very happy the pilot projects were successful. We are using the Return on Experience, to improve our processes and deliver successive projects faster and better”.
Bala M. WUNTI, Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, said that the project, which was implemented by NNPC Limited, TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited, operator of OML 130 and partners SAPETRO & CNOOC & PRIME 130 is geared towards mitigating the various identified gaps in the society.
“These projects were borne out of the need to mitigate the various identified gaps in line with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We will continue to consistently champion the implementation of Sustainable Community Development projects that will positively impact the lives of the citizens of this Country.
“We will continue to consistently champion the implementation of Sustainable Community Development projects that will positively impact the lives of the citizens of this Country. We are very proud and elated to be commissioning yet another laudable and essential project. We know that this facility will help provide succor to the people for the purpose it is intended,” he said.
On behalf of the partners, Luc Vanson, Chief Operating Officer, Prime 130, expressed his pleasure and delight at the successful completion and commissioning of the projects and is proud to be part of such laudable initiatives.
The beneficiary communities were implored to ensure sustainable use of the facilities to impact the people positively.
Last year, a total of 10 projects were commissioned, while nine have been commissioned and handed over so far this year under the batch four project lineups.
In 2016, TotalEnergies commenced its robust plan to deploy CSR Infrastructure developments across the country which resulted in a strategy to deliver 84 Infrastructure projects across the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria.
In its 1st Phase, a total of 33 projects were launched in 2017 in the areas of Education, Health, Capacity Building and Access to Water across the country. In its 2nd Phase another 24 projects were launched in 2018 and yet another 27 projects were launched in 2019 in the 3rd Phase.
Of these 84 infrastructure projects, over 54 have already been completed and commissioned from the earlier phases and a total of 8 have now been completed and commissioned.
Follow us on twitter