Nigeria’s premier oil company, Shell says it will continue to support education in Nigeria building on its scholarship and allied programmes which have helped thousands of Nigerians to acquire skills for leadership positions since the 1950s.
Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) Limited, Osagie Okunbor, said this while being conferred with an honorary doctorate in Business Administration by the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) at its convocation ceremony over the weekend.
“Shell Companies in Nigeria have a long history of supporting education through scholarships and other initiatives,” he said. “Currently, we have over 3,500 university grants for Nigerian students. I am, therefore, delighted at the honour that you have bestowed upon me with this award of an honorary doctorate. I accept it gladly and, on behalf of my family and the Shell companies in Nigeria, I say ‘Thank you’.”
In a ceremony attended by the Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah and the State Commissioner for Education, Professor Ndubueze Mbah, Okunbor commended the Enugu State Government’s decision to deploy about 30% of its annual budget to educational development. He said, “This award will further cement the blossoming relationship between Shell Companies in Nigeria and Enugu State University of Science and Technology, and, indeed, with the government and good people of Enugu State.”
Earlier on arrival at the Agbani campus of the university, Okunbor was accompanied by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie; Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Prince Ike Chioke, and a Shell delegation that included SPDC Director, Igo Weli on a visit to the ICT centre donated about three years ago to the university by The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo). The centre was one of six donated by the company to universities across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones. SNEPCo’s support to ICT Centres in the country was in response to a study that indicated a dearth of knowledge in that area among students and teachers at secondary and tertiary levels.
In a related development, the Student Union honoured Okunbor with an award in recognition of Shell’s support to students of the university. The Student Union Government President, Donatus Okolieuwa, commended Osagie Okunbor for championing programmes that support students’ development.
Okunbor said, “Over the years, several of your students have been and are still on the Shell University scholarship programme which has been helping our dear country grow its human capacity. I also have several graduates of this university as colleagues and former colleagues in Shell Companies in Nigeria. They have always represented you with dignity. I will continue to cherish this award.”