Sterling joins oil firms dishing empowerment packages for communities

…As company empowers fresh batch of women entrepreneurs in A’Ibom, Rivers

Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company Limited (SEEPCO) may have joined oil companies dishing empowerment packages to youths and women in communities.

The company is however urging beneficiaries to make good use of opportunities made available to communities. They referred to how most of the 1000 women it empowered in 2025 allegedly misused the packages.

Oil companies had complained along these lines over the years, pointing at a sinkhole of empowerment projects that the beneficiaries allegedly mismanaged.

Development experts in the Niger Delta area have also cried out against this trend, saying empowerment has failed to transform the oil region.

Lanre Oluseye, a thought leader, business leader, and cleric, said he had carried out an observation, saying he use to sit and watch youths who got empowerment packages only to come under the Agip Flyover to sell the equipment for peanuts.

He lamented that the youths would wait only to flock at the next empowerment scheme to collect and sell.

Sterling Oil tasted an ugly experience where some of the beneficiaries did what they know best, mismanagement of the support. They seem to change approach.

Now, small and medium scale female entrepreneurs in some communities of Akwa Ibom and Rivers are currently benefitting from an empowerment training by SEEPCO as a way of boosting their economy and make them financially literate and independent.

The training is being driven by the VCDF, the foundation that coordinates the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.

The training which was christened financial literacy programme, started in 2025 for about 1000 women drawn from the company’s host communities who were broken into various clusters for ease of coordination.

The beneficiaries were equipped with start-up funds with which they were expected to start their micro businesses. Reports from the company said; “While many of them put the funds to good use and could show proof of profits generated from the start-up capital, some of them chose to waste the funds.

“This year, the company decided to invest more on those who had shown seriousness in their vocations.”

In partnership with the VCDF, the company organized a second leg of training for the first batch of 100 women who were also assisted with working tools, including equipment, consumables, and basic business materials required to begin operations.

The latest training which started on May 22, 2026, and expected to last for about two weeks, introduced participants to essential business practices, including planning, budgeting, savings, pricing, and customer relations.

Sessions also covered financial record keeping, responsible spending and access to financial services.

Speaking during the ongoing programme, Goodfellow Julius, a chief and village head of Iwofe community in the Rivers State capital, expressed appreciation to SEEPCO and VCDF for bringing impactful empowerment initiatives to the community.

He noted that the programme stood out because it goes beyond skills acquisition by equipping women with the knowledge, tools, and confidence required to establish and sustain businesses.

According to him, the initiative would positively impact many families and strengthen livelihoods across the host communities.

Some of the beneficiaries expressed deep appreciation to SEEPCO and VCDF for the opportunity, describing the programme as timely, practical and life changing. Peace Emem, for example, saw it as a major turning point. She noted that the training and starter pack support had given her the confidence to start her own business and contribute more meaningfully to her family’s wellbeing.

To reduce the incidence of misuse of empowerment packages, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) created a database of youths and women in the region and their areas of needs. The Commission said it would this database to empower the youths phase by phase and also mark out those who benefited and next batch to access the support.

The essence, the NDDC said, is to avoid giving to same sets of youths who specialize in throwing themselves up for every scheme, only to be first to come to the next programme.