Billions at Play by NJ Ayuk

Author:NJ Ayuk [NJ Ayuk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913136369
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Published: 2019-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

12

Oil & Gas Companies Can Help Reshape African Economies

Until fairly recently, IOCs were all about offering “gifts” to appease African host companies.

Fortunately, that’s changing. IOCs are realizing that African communities are much more interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that help them build better futures for themselves than they are in handouts with negligible or short-term benefits.

As a result, we’re seeing an uptick in community projects with potential to bring meaningful improvements to everyday Africans’ lives. Examples include the specialized oil and gas industry training Aker Solutions of Norway is providing in Angola, the capacity-building and infrastructure programs multinational Tullow Oil operates in Ghana, and Chevron’s extensive investment in public schools in Nigeria’s Delta State.

Those are just a start. There are oil and gas companies putting real thought and effort into supporting local communities—perhaps they just need to do a better job in publicizing their activities.

The industry is also prioritizing higher transparency more than ever, having finally fallen into step with existing international regulations and initiatives to champion anti-corruption policies (see Chapter 9).

So it’s not a question of if the collective partners of the oil and gas industry will play a significant role in helping African countries, economies, and people. In fact, they already do.

The real wait-and-see is what they will do to make the most positive impact.

Will this positive impact be in the form of the African governments creating an enabling environment for IOCs? Or indigenous oil and gas industry companies seeking business relationships and knowledge transfers from IOCs? Or independent and national oil companies following IOCs’ positive examples?

For the sake of Africa’s future, I hope it’s all three.

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