The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) says no fewer than 610,000 people in Niger Delta have so far benefitted from its free health interventions in the past eight years. Mr Igo Weli, General Manager, External Relations at SPDC stated this at the opening ceremony of a Community Healthcare Programme at Onopa in Yenagoa, Bayelsa on Wednesday.
Weli, who was represented by Mr Wakil Layiwola, a Manager at the External Relations Department of SPDC, noted that the oil firm believed that a healthy population was critical to a productive workforce.
He said that the programme took quality free healthcare services to the doorsteps of benefitting communities where it operated. “The Community Care Programme was introduced over a decade ago in the Niger Delta and has since reached thousands of people across Nigeria with its free medical health component tagged ‘Health-in-Motion’. “We are passionate about health and safety and remain committed to extending this to the people in the communities where we operate.
“We uphold a maxim of we care in our business and believe that healthy citizenry leads to a productive population that strengthens the economy and wealth of a nation,” Weli said. Politics Nigeria
Speaking at the event, Chief Samuel Morrison, Paramount Ruler in Onopa settlement, applauded the oil firm for the intervention and urged SPDC to equip the Onopa Health Centre built by the Bayelsa government for the benefit of the people.
