(As delivered)
Mr. Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen, this is a wonderful evening for me and the entire ChevronTexaco family in Nigeria and elsewhere. It is a moment of joy that we will remember for a long time to come. This occasion reminds me of a verse from a book by Chinua Achebe, the renowned Nigerian writer, which states that when “the moon is shinning, even the lame is hungry for a walk.” These words best describe the mood within the ChevronTexaco family this evening: from Chairman O’Reilly who received the award on behalf of our company from Secretary Powell in Washington, DC, to every employee here in Nigeria and every part of the world where our company and its affiliates operate. We are grateful for the recognition, and we thank the Department of State for this honor.
As most of you probably know, the Niger Delta, where we have a great number of our Nigerian operations, is a really tough neighborhood. In some ironic way, the depth of my personal happiness today can only be measured against the intensity of my anguish over the death and destruction that has gone on in that part of Nigeria. For many months, we have witnessed a serious escalation in the level of violence in the Niger Delta, where we work and where many of our employees live. The Delta is also the place where we have made longstanding friends and where we have planted the seeds of rewarding partnerships over many years of our activities in Nigeria.
On many occasions, our employees have borne the brunt of the violence in the Niger Delta while our operations have suffered disruption time and again. But more than that, the people who call the Delta their home have suffered a great deal from the many crises that seem to keep recurring there. I consider this award a recognition of our unrelenting efforts in the face of great difficulties.
In the best way we know how, our company has tried to partner with others to contribute to the improvement in the quality of life of the people. We’ve built schools and hospitals and donated books and drugs, we’ve built roads and jetties, too. We have thousands of Delta community youth on our scholarship schemes, and hundreds have passed through our skills training programs. We’ve provided river boat clinics to deliver healthcare services to the most remote parts of the creeks where we operate. And we have helped the people in the hour of their greatest need. But all these things almost have no significance in the face of the recurring violence that has troubled the area. The hospital we built near our Escravos facility has been burnt down twice…so have some of the schools. Many of the women and children have had to leave their homes in the aftermath of the burning and killing that sacked their villages. For this reason, it must be considered a tribute to our employees and to our corporate value system, rooted in the ChevronTexaco way, that we could rise above the challenges I have described and continue in the tradition of caring for our neighbors wherever we operate. It is a corporate responsibility and tradition for which we are enormously proud.
This award is a challenge to continue the best practices that have earned us recognition. When we hired planes and flew sorties after sorties to get the displaced villagers who had sought refuge in our facility out of the immediate danger, our thought was not that one day we would be recognized for our effort. As a matter of fact, that was not the first time we would be doing that. We just wanted to get these men, women, and children to safety and out of harm’s way.
I want to assure you that we will continue to work with the government and people of Nigeria and with voluntary development organizations in our commitment to contribute to making life better for the people who are our hosts and neighbors. In many of our communities, we are the supplier of potable water, the source of electricity, and the provider of roads and boats to facilitate transportation. We are not only active in the private sector initiative against the HIV/AIDS, but have become a leading partner of the government in the efforts to roll back its havoc in Nigeria. We feel quite fulfilled by such positive impact in the life of the people, and we hope to remain the reference point for corporate responsibility in Nigeria.
Mr. Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot conclude my remarks without expressing my whole-hearted gratitude to our partner, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). And they have provided enormous support to us throughout our many years of operations in Nigeria. They share this honor with us.
And now, I would like to appeal once more to all stakeholders in the Niger Delta to shun violence and use dialogue as a means to resolve differences. The lack of security and respect for the rule of law is undermining the efforts of all those who wish the area well and are doing their best to see the people succeed. The ambition of any society for growth and development will remain but a vision if there is no peace.
On behalf of our employees, I want to thank you once more, Mr. Ambassador, and your staff at the American Embassy, Abuja and Lagos. Please pass on our sincere appreciation to Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Washington, DC staff. An African proverb says, “A man cannot clap with one hand.” At ChevronTexaco, we believe that we can achieve our goals only when we all work together in productive partnership. We look forward to having many reasons in the future to clap with both hands. Thank you very much for your attention.
