There has been a tendency in some discussions about the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDTs) to assume that once the new statutory framework came into force, the era of voluntary corporate social responsibility by oil and gas companies effectively came to an end.
That is not what the law says—and the latest intervention by the NNPC/Seplat Energy Joint Venture in Akwa Ibom State is a useful reminder.
This week, the Joint Venture launched the maiden Akwa Ibom edition of its Eye Can See programme, a free eye-care initiative targeting more than 6,000 people across Uyo, Eket and Ibeno. Beneficiaries are receiving eye screening, treatment, corrective glasses and, where required, sight-restoring surgery. Screening also covers conditions including glaucoma, hypertension and diabetes.
This is precisely the kind of intervention that demonstrates why the emergence of HCDTs should not be interpreted as the end of corporate social investment.
The PIA established a statutory framework through which settlors contribute 3% of their preceding year's actual operating expenditure to Host Community Development Trust funds for the development of their host communities. The law also provides a framework for the use and governance of those funds.
That obligation is important. It should be implemented transparently, efficiently and accountably. But statutory obligation and voluntary corporate social investment are not the same thing.
An HCDT is a legal mechanism for host-community development. CSR or corporate social investment can allow a company to identify additional needs and deploy resources, expertise and partnerships beyond what is required through that statutory mechanism.
Indeed, Seplat's own history makes the point. The company describes Eye Can See as a signature Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, and the programme has operated for years in other parts of the country. Its latest Akwa Ibom intervention demonstrates that such programmes can continue alongside the HCDT framework.
There is therefore much to commend in what Seplat and NNPC are doing. The significance of Eye Can See goes beyond the number of glasses distributed or surgeries performed. Restoring someone's sight can affect their ability to work, learn, move independently and participate fully in family and community life. Seplat says that, since 2012, the wider programme has screened 130,771 patients, provided 67,491 pairs of glasses and performed 5,350 sight-restoring surgeries.
The company is also demonstrating that corporate interventions can evolve beyond one-off donations. Seplat points to the Sapele Eye Centre in Delta State, a permanent facility designed to provide continuing eye-care services, as an example of moving from periodic outreach toward lasting local capacity.
That is a model worth encouraging. The lesson for the wider oil and gas industry is straightforward: the PIA has created a new statutory responsibility; it has not created a ceiling for corporate citizenship.
Oil-producing communities still have needs that cannot always be addressed through a single statutory development mechanism. Healthcare, education, skills development, enterprise support, environmental initiatives, livelihoods and specialised interventions can all benefit from additional corporate investment.
We therefore commend Seplat Energy and its Joint Venture partner, NNPC, for bringing Eye Can See to Akwa Ibom.
More importantly, other oil and gas companies operating across the Niger Delta should look beyond the minimum required by law and identify areas where their expertise, resources and partnerships can produce measurable additional benefits for the people around their operations.
HCDTs should be strengthened and held accountable. But they should not become an excuse for companies to withdraw from broader community investment.
The PIA established a floor for host-community obligations. It did not establish a ceiling for corporate responsibility. Seplat has shown that there is still room to do more. Other companies can—and should—do the same.