Education

Eni in Nigeria supports education as a way of investing in Youth empowerment and development. It does this in several ways including the provision of a Scholarship & Bursary Scheme, and the Provision of Infrastructure and Vocational Training.

The NAOC Scholarship & Bursary Scheme was established in 1992. Since 2000 about 8,700 bursaries and scholarships have been disbursed to support students, from the company’s operational areas, to reach their educational goals.

The objectives of the scheme include:

• Promoting academic achievement and excellence.
• Developing skills and human capacity building.
• Bringing higher education to the reach of more qualified persons.
• Enhancing access to education and training in vocation for people in difficult circumstances.
• Promoting the attainment of self-actualization and national goals.

The Bursary scheme is solely for secondary school students from the communities in the areas of the company’s operations, and is effective from the academic session and class of the beneficiary, on the date of the award, till the end of senior secondary (SS3). The Undergraduate Scholarship scheme is mainly for registered full time undergraduates in Nigerian tertiary institutions, and is effective from the first semester of Year One till the end of the beneficiary’s program.

Scholarships are of three types:

• Area of Operation Scholarship Award: This category is open to First Year students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria from communities within the company’s operational areas, namely Bayelsa, Delta, Imo and Rivers States.
• National Merit Scholarship Award: This award is open to first year degree students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria who are not from communities within the company’s operational areas.
• The Post-Graduate Scholarship scheme was instituted in the 2007/2008 academic session, and now provides scholarships to 30 Nigerian graduates annually to promote knowledge acquisition in fields of study relevant to the industry, particularly to deep offshore operations. Unlike the other scholarship schemes which are implemented by the NAOC JV, the post-graduate scheme is implemented by NAE and its PSC partners, and also reserves a number of awards each year for graduates applying to foreign schools. The beneficiaries of the Scheme sit a computer-based test, and are selected based on criteria agreed by the PSC partners at the inception of the program.

NAOC has partnered State Governments, Local Governments and Communities in improving quality of education and increasing efficiency of the educational system through such measures as:

• the provision of ICT Lab to Delta State University, Oleh
• the building and renovation of classroom blocks & teachers’ quarters,
• the provision of laboratory equipment, book supplies, and
• the donation of fully furnished libraries to numerous communities.

NAOC has also taken giant strides in development of vocational and technical training of youths in its areas of operation and beyond. Some of these initiatives include the provision of ‘on-the-job’ training in various disciplines including geology, electrical engineering, welding, fitting, piping design & fabrication, seismic data processing, and civil works, during projects executed in collaboration with the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board.