PINL awards 600 scholarships to Bayelsa students

As part of its corporate social responsibility, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL), a surveillance firm, has awarded scholarships to 600 students across its host communities on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Bayelsa State.

The surveillance firm disclosed the awards at its April stakeholders’ meeting on Thursday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, while expressing delight at the cordial relationship between PINL and the host communities in the state.

This is coming as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) is calling for deepened collaboration between the host communities and the surveillance firm to sustain security on the TNP.
The issue of oil pipeline security has assumed greater significance in recent months with calls for decentralisation of pipeline surveillance contracts to reflect ethnic diversity in the Niger Delta region.

In spite of the development, PINL has pushed on with its agenda of building enduring collaboration with its host communities to strengthen pipeline surveillance along the eastern corridor of the TNP.

Speaking at the meeting, Akponime Omojevwe, head, field operations, Eastern Corridor, Project Monitoring Office, NNPCL, urged the surveillance firm and the communities to consolidate on the progress made.

“I am delighted because the bond in Bayelsa between the communities and PINL is very strong. The collaboration is a hundred percent and we don’t want that rating to drop because they have tried so much,” Omojevwe said.
He commended the stakeholders for their commitment to securing the TNP and called for a complete end to pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering activities.

Akpos Mezeh, general manager, Community and Stakeholder Relations of PINL, presented the scholarships to the 600 beneficiaries including both undergraduate and postgraduate beneficiaries, and announced the commencement of disbursement for both the women empowerment and youth skill acquisition programmes.

Mezeh said that the gesture was a reflection of the value the company placed on education and human capital development within its host communities.

“In Bayelsa, we have granted scholarships to 600 students of higher institutions in our host communities, giving them between N500,000 and N1,000,000 each to aid their studies.

“The scholarship is a sign that we are committed to their education and human capital development,” he stated.

Beneficiaries welcomed the grants, saying the support would ease the financial strain their studies have caused their parents and sharpen their focus.

Canus Samuel, a Civil Engineering student at Niger Delta University (NDU), said: “I can now concentrate on my studies and make the company and my community proud. I will do my very best to come out with a good CGPA and become a good engineer.”

Albert, a postgraduate student of NDU, said: “I am so happy for this privilege because it will enhance our performance in school. Most of us don’t have better sources of raising funds. It is a real leverage for us.

“We are making a commitment to continue to protect our pipeline so that there will be no vandalism and their operations will go smoothly.”