Chevron launches $5 million community development program in Nigeria

The Western Niger Delta Development Programme was launched in partnership with the International Foundation for Education and Self Help (IFESH). The company said it would bring benefits to communities living near Chevron’s oil and gas production operations.

The programme aims to improve skills development, basic education, health education, enterprise development and food production in those communities.

“This program will focus on helping people help themselves,” said Rev. Leon Sullivan, founder and president of IFESH, at the African-African American Summit in Accra.

Specific objectives of the program include:

• Train and facilitate the self-employment of approximately 1,000 youths;
• Strengthen the food production capacity of fishermen/farmers in Chevron’s area of operations;
• Provide basic education for primary school children, literacy classes for adults, and teacher training for primary school teachers;
• Facilitate the establishment of a self-run, privately funded credit/finance co-operative organization;
• Provide basic business skills training and access to credit for existing small businesses.

The company said the partnership will affect an estimated 26,000 people by the end of the five-year term.

Chevron