Three oil firms award 221 scholarships to Akwa Ibom students

Three oil companies operating in Eastern Obolo and Mbo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom, have awarded 221 scholarships to students from the two Local Government Areas.

The Community Relations Manager of Afren Energy, Mr Blessing Okpowo, made the announcement in Uyo on Monday at a ceremony to announce the awards.

The three oil firms are Amin International Petroleum Development Company Ltd., Oriental Energy Resources Ltd., their partners, Afren Energy Services Ltd.

Amin and Afren awarded 64 scholarships to students from Eastern Obolo, comprising 50 for undergraduate and 14 for post graduate students, studying in tertiary institutions across the country.

Oriental Energy Resources with its Afren Energy Services partner gave students from Mbo communities 157.

Okpowo, said the gesture was in line with the companies’ commitment to developing human capacity within their operational areas.

He said that Afren Energy engaged in human capacity building through educational pursuit and skill acquisition programmes for those who might not have the opportunity to go to tertiary institutions.

“The scholarship we have given to our students is for 2013 school year. Each beneficiary will receive N100,000.

“The gesture can be extended to cover the period each of the students would spend in school.

“This depends on favourable reports we receive from the committee on each of the students, based on the submission of their semester’s results to the committee.”

He said that each year, 50 students were selected through a thorough screening exercise by an independent body, usually the Consultancy Department of the University of Uyo.

Okpowo advised the beneficiaries to take their studies serious and ensure that their results were promptly sent to the committee handling the programme as poor performing students would be dropped.

He thanked the host communities of Eastern Obolo and Mbo areas of the state for providing the companies with the conducive environment to operate.

Speaking at the ceremony, the representative of the Federal Ministry of Environment in Akwa Ibom, Dr Joshua Ndomo, commended the companies for “their steps in the right direction”.

He also commended the operators of the oil fields for being environmentally friendly as there had been no reported case of environmental pollution involving them.

Okpowo advised the beneficiaries to work hard to ensure that they made good use of the scholarships. (NAN)