Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, has said it will invest 950 million in Kula community, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State in the latest attempt to make peace with the community.
The General Manager, External Relations of SPDC, Mr Igo Weli said during a stakeholders meeting on Thursday that the SPDC is ready to dialogue with the communities and resolve the issues raised.
According to him, the existing Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) has expired, but working with the communities, another GMOU will be worked out for the development of the communities.
He said: “The third one is retaining for fund . The fund for each community is stipulated in the GMOU and each community will have their community trust and even though one community has a problem we can give you your money to go ahead. So once we do it properly, specify how much belongs to each community, have your own community trust, one community will not hold the other communities down. If you have a problem we localize the problem and sort out the one we can operate. That’s what we have been doing”
He informed that there is N960million on ground in line with the existing GMOU, saying that the company is ready to invest the funds.
“There is no perfect solution. Once we get 80 percent of the people to agree, then let’s do it. We want to operate in a way that all stakeholders will feel recognised. There are rules. Once we agree on the rules, we will move forward. The GMOU will be modified to meet the new realities “, he said.
Recall that the OML 25 oilfield operated by Shell in the community has been the object of disagreement following the shutting down of the facilities by the community’s women in August 2017.
The federal government is said to have lost about 700 billion in revenues since the facilities were shut down.
