Port Harcourt – Mr Nicolas Brunet, Deputy Managing Director of Total, Port Harcourt District, has called on stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to adopt dialogue to resolve disputes.
Brunet, who gave the advice on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt, decried vandalism of Total oil facilities in the Niger Delta by hoodlums.
He said some facilities vandalised by hoodlums included wellheads, pipelines conveying hydrocarbons and other assets.
The deputy managing director said that there were times the personnel of the company had also lost their lives.
Brunet said that as a result of the insecurity, businesses were closing down in the region including Rivers without new companies coming in to invest.
He said one of the major causes of unemployment and poverty in the land was insecurity that had pervaded the state and the region.
“No new businesses are established due to the daily news of these disturbing events in the state, these are the main causes of unemployment and underdevelopment in the land’’, he said.
The Total chief said the criminal acts which had resulted in unemployment, poverty and other attendant issues were part of the causes of restiveness in the area.
“Businesses that will generate employment are leaving on a daily basis, shops also are packing, every one of us is affected in one way or the other‘’, Brunet said.
He urged stakeholders to take the message home to their kinsmen and advised them to thread the path of peace to resolving crisis in the communities.
Brunet urged stakeholders to eliminate divisive tendencies and called for unity among them in a bid to fight insecurity and develop the state and the Niger Delta.
He said the company was determined to launch a special programme to ameliorate the suffering of members of its host communities.
He also called for adequate communication among stakeholders to guard against misinformation.
Community Affairs and Development Manager, Mr James Urho, said the essence of the meeting was for Total to brainstorm with its host communities.
He explained that the meeting was designed for stakeholders to chart new ways in forging ahead as a team to develop and to create peace in the land. (NAN)