The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) will no longer engage in philanthropic activities, Dr Kofi Konduah Sarpong, the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC has said.
The organization will rather focus on social impact activities to clearly articulate its vision of being a global oil and gas company whose operations had a profound impact on the quality of life of the people of Ghana.
The GNPC Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities over the years, was mainly about donations, sponsorships of programmes and support for the Black Stars.
“Before 2017, GNPC CSR activities mainly involved donations. Essentially, there was no focused CSR strategy influencing what the corporation spent its CSR budget on, so there was a blurred link between corporate goals or strategy and CSR” he said.
Dr Sarpong said this at a public lecture was organised by the College of Humanities and Legal Studies as part of its week's celebration on the theme, “Bringing Industry, Faculty and Students together for quality humanities education”.
He spoke on the topic: “GNPC Corporate Social Investment model: a discussion note on the evolution, implementation and challenges”.
Dr Sarpong said a more comprehensive and far-reaching CSR strategy consistent with the organization’s vision and emerging international trends and practices in the oil and gas sector globally was what was required.
There was the need for GNPC to focus on the social impact of its operations and clearly articulate its vision – ‘‘To be a global oil and gas company whose operations have a profound impact on the quality of life of the people of Ghana’’, he indicated.
He said the new GNPC CSR model centred on three thematic areas of providing education and training, environmental and social amenities and economic empowerment.
The GNPC, he said, was guided by the consequences of oil operations in other countries especially in Niger Delta and Ogoniland in Nigeria where problems of conflict and insecurity have resulted from community disenchantment in relation to resource allocation and perception of economic marginalization.
That must not happen in Ghana, he said and underscored the need to make people understand the concept of the new GNPC CSR model aimed at seeking a win- win outcomes.
Dr Sarpong said there was the need to carefully manage the expectations of stakeholders and the ability of organisation to meet those needs through stakeholder engagement.
Professor Joseph Ghartey-Ampiah, Vice Chancellor of UCC indicated that the university remained committed to bringing academia to industry to continuously impact society with knowledge to spur growth and development.
He said the university had a deal with GNPC to establish a research Chair in petroleum commerce to strengthen petroleum research, education and capacity.
Beyond petroleum commerce, UCC looked forward to establishing a school of governance and law to deal with the social and law aspects of petroleum related issues.
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