Community Relations
Oando PLC’s Community Relations strategy is hinged on one cardinal principle to improve the quality of life, and be a catalyst for development and social change within and beyond our areas of operation. In doing this, we continually strive:
- To be the catalyst for socio-economic change as stakeholders in the community
- To build capacity as a means for self reliance and economic empowerment
- To entrench and foster the principle of sustainable development
- To contribute in building a stable and enduring future for our host community
We treat the host communities as an extension of our business in terms of needs and aspirations; this gives the communities a sense of belonging as stakeholders in our business and operations. Our overall engagement covers the following broad areas:
- Economic Empowerment/Employment
- Social Development
- Summary of Engagement
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT / EMPLOYMENT
Recognising the global paradigm shift to sustainable development, we have literarily adopted the saying: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
For us, each community has its uniqueness and intricacies, what goes across board however is the need to empower individuals within the communities to be financially stable and gainfully employed. To this end, we have made it a part of our staffing policy to recruit skilled, semi skilled and unskilled labour from our host communities to fill suitable positions.
In all our host communities, we have instituted a zoning formula where the bulk of the semi skilled and 100% of unskilled labour are sourced from the host community; this we do in liaison with the community development council and the youth development organizations.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
We are actively involved in the provision of social amenities and improving the quality of life in our host communities; in doing this, we recognise the need to drive development from inside out i.e. development should be based on identified pressing needs of the community as against the practice of instituting projects based on the perceived needs of communities.
The warmth and reception of our host communities is a clear testament to the functionality of this principle. From the support and sponsorship of youth-led developmental initiatives, cultural festivals and seminars, to the provision of boreholes, we have tried to affect our hosts in all facets of their socio-cultural lives.
Our engagement strategy also recognises the need to be pro-active in identifying the needs of the present and next generation of inhabitants, it is therefore our practice to implement sustainable programmes that have a multiplier effect on our communities and their way of life.
SUMMARY OF ENGAGEMENT
- Provision of drums of transformer oil and support materials to ensure stable power supply in Bundu Ama in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
- Institution of Community Advisory Councils in primary host communities.
- Award of N50,000 annual scholarship support to indigenous Secondary school students in Onne and Bundu Ama to cover tuition and text books in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
- Sponsorship of annual Ogu Ikpokiri Youths year-end party (Onne Locality).
- Adoption and total renovation of “A” wing of Bundu Ama Primary School .
- Construction of 2 boreholes with 4 overhead storage tanks and provision water pumps to Bundu Ama.
Initiatives
- Introduction of an Adopt-A-School programme to empower communities where we operate through the support of Primary and Secondary education.
- Inclusion of community indigent labour as a deliberate recruitment policy in communities where we operate.
- Secured community buy-in on shift from cash to project based engagement.
