US embassy cable - 03ABUJA728

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000728 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E FOR UNDER-SECRETARY LARSON 
AF FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY KANSTEINER 
ALSO FOR E/EB/CBA - NSMITH-NISSLEY 
 
 
FROM AMBASSADOR JETER 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: BEXP, EINV, ELAB, ETRD, SENV, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: NOMINATION FOR THE SECRETARY'S AWARD 
FOR CORPORATE EXCELLENCE 
 
REF: (A) STATE 55713, (B) STATE 84067, (C) STATE 93791 
 
 
1.  There are several American companies in Nigeria 
that might qualify for the Secretary's Award for 
Corporate Excellence; however, one stands heads and 
shoulders above the rest.  Chevron is the largest 
single American investor in Nigeria and the second 
largest producer of Nigerian oil.  It is also a 
distinguished "Corporate Ambassador of Goodwill". 
Chevron's activities have attracted our attention, and 
the attention of many others, through its charitable 
outreach, social responsibility, and determination to 
tackle and overcome some of the most intractable 
social and economic problems that confront Nigeria.  I 
believe that Chevron Nigeria Limited is eminently 
qualified for the Secretary's Award for Corporate 
Excellence, and I hope that you will agree. 
 
 
2. Chevron Nigeria is a unit of Chevron Corporation. 
One of the world's largest integrated petroleum 
enterprises, the company has operated in Nigeria since 
1961. Chevron's strong commitment to corporate social 
responsibility is reflected in its programs promoting 
education, health, sustainable economic development 
and humanitarian assistance.  Most beneficiaries are 
communities in the remote Niger Delta, an area rich in 
oil and natural gas, and one which presents enormous 
operational challenges and even larger problems of 
public safety and security.  During the past decade, 
Chevron spent more than $30 million on water 
facilities, electric power, landing jetties, roads, 
school buildings, scholarships, books, laboratories, 
teachers, health care, water transport, and civic 
centers for the people of the troubled Niger Delta 
region.  In the past few years, Chevron decided to 
more than double that amount, targeting $65 million 
for community program activities and significantly 
increasing the number of recipients. 
 
 
3. Education is a key concern in Nigeria; 
specifically, facilitating educational access while 
halting the decline in educational quality in rural 
schools. In the remote marshy regions of the Niger 
Delta, school infrastructure is inadequate, poverty 
widespread, and qualified and motivated teachers 
scarce. Equally rare are teaching aids, textbooks, and 
laboratory equipment. 
 
 
4.  To help resolve these problems, Chevron has 
furnished and equipped 54 schools over the last ten 
years. Working with Nigeria's National Youth Service 
Corps (NYSC), Chevron has provided housing and medical 
care to English, mathematics, and science teachers in 
order to attract and retain them in the Delta's rural 
areas. The results have been remarkable: increased 
student attendance at schools, improved academic 
performance, higher female student enrollment, and the 
introduction of extra-curricular activities. 
 
 
5.  To encourage science education in secondary 
schools and to support higher studies in engineering 
and technology, Chevron sponsors science fairs and 
competitions, and donates books, journals and 
professional manuals. To its singular credit, Chevron 
equipped a BioTechnology Center at the Federal 
University of Technology in Yola, the only such center 
in Nigeria.  Moreover, Yola - located in Nigeria's 
distant and remote Northeast - is far from Chevron 
area of interest, the oil-producing Niger Delta. 
 
 
6.  Chevron also sponsors two scholarship programs: 
Community Scholarships, for youngsters near its 
operations; and National University Scholarships, open 
to all Nigerian students pursuing full-time degrees in 
Nigerian universities. Since 1993, Chevron has awarded 
12,224 Community and 2,450 National University 
scholarships. 
 
 
7.  As remarkable as these achievements may seem, 
Chevron shows no sign of diminishing its engagement. 
Partnering with the International Foundation for 
Education and Self-Help (IFESH), a U.S.-based, non- 
profit organization founded by the late Reverend Leon 
Sullivan, Chevron commissioned the five-year Western 
Niger Delta Development Program (WNDDP) two years ago. 
WNDDP supports acquisition of technical skills, 
educational infrastructure, micro-enterprise, HIV/AIDS 
awareness, and conflict resolution. 
 
 
8.  Since WNDDP's inception, 260 young men and women 
have been trained in welding and fabrication, business 
development, marine services, computer literacy, and 
secretarial studies; two primary school buildings and 
 
SIPDIS 
teachers' quarters are being built; some 250 small 
businesses have received micro-loans. An impressive 
100 percent loan recovery rate was recorded in the 
program's first full cycle. WNDDP's loan portfolio has 
grown from eight million to fourteen million naira 
(from about $62,000 to $108,000) in just two years. 
Plans call for increasing the number of participating 
communities from four to thirty, with a commensurate 
growth in funding. 
 
 
9.  Chevron is also supporting another technical 
skills acquisition program through which 50 young men 
and women are trained annually in welding and metal 
fabrication, computer literacy, and secretarial 
studies. Graduates find jobs in the oil industry, set 
up their own businesses, or otherwise greatly enhance 
their prospects for public and private sector 
employment. 
 
 
10.  Chevron Nigeria is unmatched as a responsible 
U.S. corporate citizen in Nigeria.  With its current 
budget of over $65 million and 50 engineering and 
community development staff, Chevron Nigeria works 
with non-governmental organizations and local 
governments to support sustainable community economic 
growth and development. The goal: profitable 
enterprises that can be turned over to community-based 
owners. 
 
 
11.  Chevron Nigeria is positively involved in 
providing primary and secondary health care to the 
people of the Delta.  Scheduled visits by the 
RiverBoat Clinic (RBC)--which has a full complement of 
doctors, nurses and health assistants--ensure regular 
health care to slightly more than three thousand 
people in the Niger Delta. Most of them live more than 
100 kilometers from the nearest government-provided 
health facility. Central to Chevron's community 
healthcare initiative, RBC provides health care to 
remote, often inaccessible communities in the Delta, 
where typically there are no alternative services. 
 
 
12.  Chevron is acutely aware that HIV/AIDS is a 
medical, social and business issue that affects every 
aspect of life, and future prospects for Nigeria's 
social, economic, and political development.  Its 
Chevron Workplace AIDS Prevention Program (CWAPP) 
focuses on peer education, community-based prevention, 
condom distribution, and training for supervisors, 
managers and union leaders. Since the late 1990s, 
Chevron has participated in World AIDS Day and the 
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. Recognizing 
Chevron's exceptional service, President Obasanjo 
recently designated Chevron's Managing Director Co- 
Chair of Nigeria's public-private sector alliance in 
the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.  Chevron is 
also a member of Nigeria's National Action Committee 
on AIDS (NACA), where it is exploring possibilities to 
apply core corporate competencies in communications, 
marketing, and organization to NACA's programs to 
combat HIV/AIDS. 
 
 
13. The target of Chevron's Adolescent Reproductive 
Health Program (CHARP) is its employees' children 
between the ages of 12-19.  Truly innovative, Chevron 
relies on its "edutainment" to reach these youngsters 
in ways they understand. Some 200 children and parents 
have participated in annual Chevron-sponsored HIV/AIDS 
workshops. Many of these people have become members of 
Chevron's Lifeline Adolescent Reproductive Education 
Klub (CLARK). Putting on dramatic plays and poetry 
readings, they serve as community role models and 
resources for peers and parents alike. 
 
 
14.  In addition to these health-related activities, 
Chevron Nigeria also partners with the Carter Center 
to combat river blindness and to sponsor primary 
health care programs for primary school children in 
its area of operation. 
 
 
15.  Equally important has been Chevron's humanitarian 
assistance.  Frequent inter-ethnic and political 
rivalries have often led to violent conflicts near its 
operations. In the last four years, Chevron Nigeria 
has helped airlift more than 4,000 local villagers to 
safety.  Two weeks ago, Chevron airlifted more than 
2,000 villagers to safety after their villages had 
been attacked and destroyed by a rival ethnic group. 
After airlifting them to safety, the company also 
provided food assistance and temporary shelter, in 
collaboration with the Nigerian Government and local 
NGOs.  Its medical personnel have worked with local 
leaders to provide relief services for internally 
displaced persons seeking refuge at Chevron 
facilities. 
 
 
16.  Much more could be written about Chevron's 
qualifications for the 2003 Secretary of State's Award 
for Corporate Excellence.  Suffice it to say that 
through its activities in Nigeria, Chevron has 
exemplified the highest standards of conduct with 
respect to good corporate citizenship, exemplary 
business practices, and innovation in its overseas 
operations.  Its community-focused activities have won 
Chevron a special place of corporate distinction in 
Nigeria.  Equally as important, its activities have 
also projected a positive image of the United States 
and helped to advance American foreign policy 
objectives.  Chevron's programs help to improve and 
save lives. 
 
 
17.  I can think of no more fitting way for the 
Department to recognize Chevron's contributions than 
by selecting it this year for the Secretary's Award 
for Corporate Excellence. 
 
 
JETER