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Total Upstream has empowered 60 young Nigerians as they graduated from TotalPrenuers programme in agriculture and vocational skills in Osun State.
The youths which were selected across the nation were the 4th batch of the Total upstream graduating students that were trained in agriculture and vocation skills.
The youths were trained at OFFERCentre institute of Agriculture, Oluponna in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, with 30 students trained in Agriculture, while 30 students were trained vocational skills.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony recently, the Managing Director, Total Upstream in Nigeria, Mike Sangster said that the youths were drawn from all the six geo-political zones in the country for the training.
Sangster who was represented by Mr Vincent Nnadi, the Executive General Manager, CSR and Medical Services, said that under the agriculture programme, 30 youths were trained in fish farming, animal husbandry, pottery, crop production, among others.
He said that the remaining 30 were trained in catering and hotel management, Event management , photography, Arts and Crafts, among others.
Sangster added that the youths also received training in Entrepreneurship, Business Management, Computer Appreciation, Accounting and Marketing among others.
The Total boss said that the company had trained over 240 youths at the Institute with more than N100 million invested in the training.
According to him, Total came to OFFERCentre in 2016 and since then Total had invested over N100 million in partnership with OFFERcentre.
“And by this, we have transformed 240 young men and women from being applicants and job seekers to Entrepreneurs and employers of labour”, Sangster said.
The MD maintained that the training of the youths was in furtherance of Total Corporate Social Responsibility, as part of the company’s Deep Water Operations.
He added that Total would monitor the youths, adding that the successful ones among them will receive further support from Total to help grow their businesses.
In his remarks, Reverend Macarius Olatunji, the Rector of the Institute, said the youths were the fourth set be graduating from the centre since inception in 2016.
In a related development, the Oil giant engaged in cardiovascular disease initiative during a recent stakeholder engagement exercise carried out by the company across its sites including Kirikiri, the area was highlighted as being prone to traffic congestion with the health of road users and residents being at risk of CVD.
In response to this need and in line with our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment toward the improvement of the health of our employees, their families and the communities, the CVD medical outreach was designed. The program aimed to afford road users and residents of Kirikiri town the opportunity to know their vital CVD numbers and enable them take the necessary precautionary measures in managing their health.
The event which held recently afforded residents and road users, the opportunity to access free medical screening of blood pressure, blood sugar and body mass index. Cases that required further attention were referred to the Agboju Primary Health Care Board and the Navy Reference Hospital. Medications were equally administered where necessary by personnel of the Lagos State Ministry of Heath who were on ground and partnered with Total on the project.
Beyond free medical screening, educational handbills on healthy living, avoidance of sedentary lifestyle and behaviour modification were massively distributed by employees of Total to members of the public. Members of the Lagos State Ministry of Health equally assisted with mass mobilization and sensitization with the use of the provided educational materials which were published in three Nigerian Languages and English.
Also in its CSR, out of the 10,000 educational materials printed, over 7,000 were distributed while the Oriade Primary Health Care centre continues to distribute others to a new audience.
874 persons accessed free medical screening of which 458 were male and 416 were female.
618 persons were referred for treatment and further management of which 280 are male and 337, female.
In further response to the traffic control need in the Kirikiri area, Total Nigeria plc donated Traffic Management tools to the Federal Road Safety Corps Outpost in kirikiri.
The Managing DirectorTotlal Nigeria Plc, Imrane Barry who was represented at the event by the Executive General Manager (Total Country Services) Bunmi Popoola-Mordi, in her speech, reiterated the Company’s commitment to the Health, Safety and Environment of its communities.
The Oriade LCDA Chairperson Ramotalai Akinola Hassan who was represented by the Supervisory counsellor Heath, Oriade LCDA Ajayi Bashiru appreciated Total for being a responsible corporate citizen that considers the interest of its host community as priority. She equally commended the Lagos State Ministry of Health through the Primary Health Care Board for their collaboration in actualizing the project through support with drugs and provision of referral centres, a very crucial aspect of the entire process.
By Simon Ugwu
