The Executive Director of the GNPC Foundation, Dr. Dominic Kwesi Eduah, says the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) arm of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has, since its establishment, complimented Ghana’s developmental efforts in the provision of infrastructure, developing human capacity and support for livelihoods.
In a meeting with a cross-section of the media at the Foundation’s offices in Takoradi, Dr. Eduah said the Foundation has left positive handprints of its works in all 16 regions of the country since it began operations in 2017.
Offering key insight into the Foundation’s successes, he said “the Environment and Social Amenities Unit of the Foundation, has over the past 5 years constructed 702 borehole facilities in rural and peri-urban communities with a considerable number of them in the Northern regions of the country.
“We have also funded the construction of educational facilities such as 141 classroom blocks for use in basic and senior high schools, 11 dormitory blocks, and 8 science laboratories for senior high schools,” he added.
“Furthermore, the Foundation has funded the construction of 86 sanitary facilities in communities, schools, and markets across the country and 32 community pitches have also been developed into standard astro turf facilities across Ghana for our youth,” he intimated.
According to him, most of these projects have been completed and handed over to the beneficiaries, while the remaining projects at advanced levels of completion.”
Elaborating further on the achievements marked in providing educational support and training, he said the Education and Training Unit of the Foundation has offered scholarships to some 5,550 brilliant but needy Ghanaians to pursue various
Undergraduate, post-graduate, and PHD programmes in Ghanaian tertiary institutions.
“We have, also, awarded 295 scholarships to students to pursue various post-graduate programmes and sponsored 200 students to pursue Medicine in Cuba. Also, we have sponsored 40 lecturers from the Takoradi Technical University to pursue various programmes in universities within and outside Ghana all as part of our commitment to building human capacity,” he stated.
In Ghana’s informal sector, the Executive Director said the Economic Empowerment Unit of the Foundation have supported 2,450 artisans from both technical and domestic trades to write their National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Proficiency examinations. 400 of these artisans have been equipped with start-up tools to commence their artisanal journeys while the remaining artisans are scheduled to receive their start-up tools in 2023. These artisans, he explained, were drawn from rural and peri-urban communities in the Western, Western North, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra and Ashanti regions.
He reminded all that despite the harsh conditions left in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the operations of many organizations, GNPC, through the Foundation, managed to record modest achievements in its CSI operations and assured that the Foundation will sustain its efforts in the coming years.
He lauded the media for their continuous support as development partners.