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Université Total seminar series debuts in Africa
14-apr-2008 |
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The University of Total Seminar Series came to Africa for the first time on Monday, 14-Apr-2008, as top managers of the Total Group and some key industry stakeholders converged in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, to discuss the Group’s ethical, environmental and social responsibilities.
Welcoming guests to the 2-day seminar, the Managing Director / Chief Executive, EPNL, Mr. Jacques Marraud des Grottes said ethical, environmental and social responsibilities were issues that Total takes very seriously as a normal part of its corporate culture.
“Indeed it is as important as safety and security and not in competition with profitability,” Mr. des Grottes added.
While challenging participants to make frank and constructive contributions to the discussion on the theme, “Our Ethical, Environmental and Social Responsibilities”, the MD pointed out that the company’s employees were constantly being trained and re-trained on the value of best ethical practices and that the company’s Sustainable Development Policy had been reviewed to yield better results in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
On protecting the environment, Mr. des Grottes said: “the challenge of protecting air and water quality, reducing harmful emissions is part of our day to day business since the early stage of the conception of our facilities up to their decommissioning.”
He recalled that earlier this year, the company’s onshore site on OML 58 was awarded the ISO 14001 for environmental compliance as a demonstration of EPNL’s commitment to environmental protection, adding that the company aimed to certify two offshore sites this year.
In his presentation on “Total’s Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy”, the Group’s Executive Vice President, Sustainable Development and Environment, Mr. Jean-Michel Gires said the Group’s commitment to Sustainable Development (SD) was being driven by the fact that sustainability issues were becoming more and more important and that the ‘Development Question’ was still being asked everywhere while big companies are realising the value of partnering with Civil Society.
He said the company aimed to achieve its SD objectives by better controlling the impacts of its operations by ensuring safety for personnel and environment as well as creating value for all stakeholders and to better prepare for the long term future by promoting better use of the company’s products and developing renewable energies.
Speaking on “Total’s New Vision for Sustainable Development in Nigeria”, EPNL’s Executive Director, External Affairs, Mr. John Addeh, announced a break from the practice of adopting a utilitarian approach to SD, adding that under the newly developed SD Policy, the company now “engages its host communities as partners.”
“In the past, International Oil Companies (IOCs) tailored SD to secure social licence to operate,” Mr. Addeh explained. “Today, there is a paradigm shift. Today, we engage in SD as part of our business practice because we believe it is the right thing to do. Today, CSR is part of our corporate DNA.”
In his presentation on EPNL’s Ethics Policy, the company’s Deputy Managing Director (Corporate), Mr. Alek Musa, explained that an Ethics Policy exists for the subsidiary.
Mr. Musa pointed out that some highlights of the policy included an explicit requirement for individual Staff to avoid actions that constitute conflict between their official duties and their private affairs while also warning against abuse of office by all employees.
He observed that the policy focuses largely on individual behaviour, adding that the policy also “needs to be updated with new imperatives, using the format of the (Total) Group.”
The DMD (Corporate) also canvassed the creation of a special committee or coordinator on ethics for the subsidiary.
Note:
EPNL means Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited.
The slideshows below completes the story.
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