Make your mark in Nigeria's multidimensional dev. anchored on ethical principles as media personnel, Chevron NL urges Journalists

Chevron Nigeria Limited, a multinational company in Nigeria has urged media practitioners to make their mark in the narrative of Nigeria and her multidimensional development while maintaining the ethical principles that guide their  profession.

The organization made this known on Thursday, through its General Manager, Policy Government and Public Affairs, Mr Olusoga Oduselu  at  one- day  media capacity building programme organized by Nigeria Union of Journalists, Warri Correspondents' Chapel in partnership with NNPC/Chevron Nigeria Limited Joint Ventures.

Oduselu who was represented by Mr Akinbola Praise, said the organization is much aware that  with such capacity programmes , it helps to improve professional capacity and build lasting partnership with its media stakeholders as the role of the media as  agenda setters, being fourth estate of the realm, cannot be over emphasized.

According to Oduselu, the organization would continue to partner with the media to develop the society, adding that this gave reason for it to continue to organize series of capacity building programmes for Journalists in the country. He said last year, the organization has trained 90 Journalists in Lagos, 30 in Asaba, the Delta State capital and others in Abuja to build the capacity of  media practitioners to perform their functions adding that, over 120 Journalists have so far benefited from the programmes since its inception in 2014.

 His words: "We have progressed the efforts in our media capacity building for Journalists this year by training addictional 90 Journalists drawn from the NUJ Lagos, Abuja, and Warri in Delta State. By the end of this year, this initiative would have benefited over 180 media practitioners bringing a total to over 300 Journalists who have participated in the CNL sponsored capacity building programmes"

According to him, the organization seeks to make human investments that deliver long term transformative returns which are  achieved through Nigerian Content Development activities saying, by this means, the organization is providing employment to Nigerians and contracts opportunities in all its projects which are estimated annually to be the  overage of over $ 1 Billion.

He said, apart from the organization's contributions to the sustainable development of communities through Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), a community-  led participatory partnership model for community engagement and sustainable development pioneered by the organization in 2005, it is involved in exploration and production and it has been the highest contributor of high quality domestic gas in Nigeria since 2015. According to him, the organization is committed to lowering carbon emission and reducing gas flaring in Nigeria through which, routine gas flaring has been reduced to the significant level for the past ten years of its operations.

His words: "Chevron's vision is to be the global energy company most admired for its people, partnership and performance. We believe that energy is essential to modern life and providing that energy is a profound responsibility. Our purpose is to develop the affordable, reliable, ever -cleaner energy that enables human progress around the world".

Presenting paper on.the theme:" Environmental Degradation in the Society", the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area Delta State, Prof Akpofure Rim- Rukeh said, the media have much roles to play to enlighten the public on the dangers of environmental degradation, pollution, deforestation and others  which have made the earth unfit for  habitation. According to him, the action of human of releasing carbon in the air through bush burning, indiscrimate dumping of refuse and other activities, the environment is made unsafe for human's existence. He therefore charged media practitioners to make it a point of duty to ensure the people are aware of the dangers of their environmental degradation for them to cultivate healthy habits to enable man live well on earth.


On his part, Dr Majority Oji, the Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Delsu, Abraka, who  presented paper on  the need  for Journalists to present balance, objective and fair reportage, Journalists should have  knowledge of specialized reporting in order to educate the public on the activities of multinational companies among  issues in Nigeria and beyond. Not left out is Dr Mrs Favour Atubi. She  highlighted the origins of GMoU, its  importance and the role of Journalists to that effect

The  highlight of the programme was the presentation of certificates to participants amid cheers.