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The only way to change the narrative of the Niger Delta is to create jobs and wealth so much that the youth once again find hope and believe that oil is a blessing from God. For now, they think it is a curse, and they seem ready to tear everything down, thinking oil is the cause of the curse.
One man has stood out to change this mindset in the creeks. He is Jack-Rich Tein jr, the founder/president, Belema Oil Nigeria Limited. He believes that oil has much to offer but if greed and deceit were removed, the rest would be joy and peace. Now, he began by founding the Belema concept and the company has developed the Belema Model that wants oil to be a partnership between the government, the oil company, and the community. Some have called it a new JV (joint venture).
Speaking after unveiling the first batch of 374 scholarships from secondary school level to post graduate level, Tein Jr fielded questions from newsmen and explained how the scholarships were part of the steps to changing the Niger Delta narrative. He said: “Basically, it is making sure that there is some harmony in the local communities where you work. We make sure that they are partners in our business through your Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR).”
He had said in the hall that Belema Oil had submitted a proposal that would take initial 12,000 youths off the streets through jobs in the oil/gas industry. Explaining, he rather mentioned 36,000 over all as the size of jobs we are talking about.
His explanation: “We have offshore floating offloading terminal sailing to Nigeria. We are expecting to lay some pipelines to the facilities from the creeks. This will create some additional opportunities based on some proposal submitted to Mr. President. We believe he is a man that loves the Niger Delta region and wants to see employments every year. He wants to see that the communities are in harmony with the operators and also with the FG so that things begin to improve. We are seeing the President as a strategic ally and we believe that if we bring a meaningful programme, he will support it. So, we put forward a programme that we believe will create additional 12,000 employments which will turn around about 36,000 jobs. That is part of our operating corridors and the jobs will begin to come out.”
On the kind of oil activities that may generate this level job opportunities, the unassuming and gentle business executive said: “We will make sure to go into full hydrocarbon value creation chain. We are negotiating with ultra-large vessel that would bring in refinery on it. We expect to have floating refinery equipment so we can utilise fully our hydrocarbon capacity. We are also developing what we call a gas processing unit. The engineers have been working on it since 2017.
“We placed some orders in all that, through strategic partnerships and all of that. We have created these technical services where local communities that indicate interest in providing services will partner with some vendors to render such services. We are moving beyond creating employment but we are moving into creating specialised services through strategic involvement of local communities so they too can become better than Belema Oil you are hearing today.”
On what makes the Belema scholarship scheme different, the entrepreneur described by many as a wise man, said he was not interested in how others did theirs but on how to create value in the communities. And, on how much the scholarship scheme could be worth, he: “This is over N100million per year. What we have given today is over N70million cheque. We have students in Cyprus, in the UK, US, Canada, Ghana, Malaysia, and Nigerian schools. What we have done is not just to show wealth but we are creating minds that will replicate this when they come out.”
The blueprint for the company to build harmony in the oil region provided for at least 600 scholarships per year and gave the rates as N60,000 for secondary school scholarships, N200,000 for university students, and N300,000 for post graduates. The amounts for those abroad were not stated.
The Belema Model has been described as the most likely tool to move the oil region forward. When asked throw some light on this model, Tein Jr said: “Basically it is about making sure that the host communities where we operate and competent Niger Deltans are given ample opportunities to showcase their competences such as alliance with technical companies that provide specialised jobs where they can partner to provide services.”
“We also make sure that we provide strategic capacity for development through training for the local communities and the vendors that provide technical services.
“For us, we advise them to train a lot of locals. We also award scholarships like you have seen today. We also believe that some of those who want to go into some businesses and skills are given grants to do them,” he further said.
Few months ago, top Canadian officials visited Belema headquarters in Port Harcourt. He threw some light on the Belema Model which he assures would turn around the story of the oil region and safeguard foreign investments.
“We are just starting. You do not preach morality to a hungry child, you provide food. You do not preach to an angry region, provide jobs. The vision behind Belema Oil is beyond making profit for the shareholders but to provide for the communities. Our community projects are no window dressing but to go straight to the heart of their problems because we are from there and we know where it pains them most. There are communities without water for over 600 years of existence. Now, it’s their first time to see potable water, clean water to drink, or road to drive on,” Tein jr said.
“We have engaged 1500 locals, and we are training more people. There are many scholarships too, especially when the state marked 50 years. We have chosen Canada for scholarship destination. The reason is to ensure that they come back with ability to create wealth and jobs for others. Our idea is not to create pockets of rich youths but centres of wealth to spread to others,” he explained.
Understanding the Belema Model: Many are now scrambling to grapple with the full appreciation of the model. According to a presentation on the matter, the model is indicated as a world-class sustainable community engagement philosophy which has evolved through Belemaoil’s understanding and desire to change the narrative in company- host community relationship and management. The overall aim is to return the joy that oil activities provoked in the communities and to use the same oil that has broken the spirit of the oil region to rebuild the region and restore happiness and harmony.
“We will do this through community inclusiveness which to us is the fundamental basis for the success of our operations. And, this is our brand identity. Our social performance philosophy is the outcome of increased engagement with our community stakeholders with a clear objective of strengthening and nurturing a sustained mutually beneficial relationship with the communities. Our aim is to ensure community stakeholders benefit more from our operations in their respective areas via increased patronage from opportunities relating to our operations while minimising any negative impact and thus win the trust of the host communities,” Belema Oil boss said.
According to him, “We have a clear understanding of the 18 communities located in three local council areas of Rivers State and the Belema model is designed to run on business corridor groupings along Kula, Oko, Idama, Inda, Jokka, and Abuloma/Okujagu/Okuru business corridors. The structure provides for two levels of governance for now, thus, The Business Corridor management board [BCMB] and the Community Interface Committee [CIC].”
The projects that would run in the communities under the model are designed to restore human dignity to our abandoned host communities. They include potable water of international standards, electricity that may be powered with gas, medical facilities, school construction (equipping, supporting with community teacher’s scheme), skill acquisition centers, ring roads networks, jetties dredging/reclamation works, housing/guest homes for community income generation, etc.
He further explained that to create value in communities, “the model provides for endless training schemes that would ensure that the host communities would be first with skills. There would be 200 non-graduates to be trained in skilled & semi-skilled programmes for the next 5 years, 2018 – 2022. They are to be paid stipend (allowance), feeding & accommodation while on training, all with international certification in areas such as building construction, business support skills, electrical installation, ICT systems support, mechanical maintenance, refrigeration & air-conditioning, and catering and hospitality. Some of the critical skills our community youths would acquire include drilling engineer, petroleum engineer, supervisor, work-over operator, brine/mud engineering, geo scientist, drilling water management, brine filtration, reservoir engineer, mud logging, tubular handling, solid control, and petro-physicist.”
He also said that the “Traditional rulers of our host communities would have sustainable welfare packages while community contractors would become top agenda to support the growth and development of indigenous contractors capacity within our communities. Above all, there would be a robust scholarship scheme yearly of over 600 scholarships.
“The model however levies some responsibilities on the communities including providing peaceful atmosphere to attract investments, protecting the environment and joining in the fight against pipeline vandalism. On this score, there would be recognitions and awards to communities that excelled in this area.”
The impact of the Belema Model is becoming a wildfire in the oil region. Youths now cluster around Tein Jr. and see him as a model, a man they can trust, a man that truly cares for them.
Ignatius Chukwu
