7-Business: Chevron build biotech centre in Nigeria

[GENET <genetnl@xs4all.be>]

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TITLE:  Nigerian president commends Chevron for furthering biotechnology
SOURCE: Chevron, USA/Nigeria, press release
        http://www.chevron.com/community/frame_whatsnew.html
DATE:   May 4, 2001

------------------ archive: http://www.gene.ch/genet.html ------------------


Nigerian president commends Chevron for furthering biotechnology

President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria has commended Chevron for providing 
a biotechnology center for one of the country's universities. Commissioning 
the center at the Federal University of Technology, Yola, in Adamawa State 
in northeastern Nigeria, the president thanked Chevron for helping 
Nigeria's advancement toward food sufficiency and the eradication of 
disease through donating and equipping the center.

"First of all, I want to thank Chevron for this partnership with the 
university and with educational institutions generally in Nigeria," said 
President Obasanjo. "Biotechnology is a very crucial area of need. I have 
maintained that these days what we need is to satisfy our stomachs and cure 
our diseases, and biotechnology will help us achieve these." The facility, 
named "Chevron Biotechnology Center" is housed in a two-floor structure 
with a total floor space of about 1,350 square meters. It has nine 
laboratories, a conference room, offices and storage spaces. It is fully 
equipped to handle research and training in all areas of molecular biology, 
genetic engineering, cell and tissue culture, drug analysis and 
development, environment pollution control, bioreactor technology, enzyme 
technology and biogas generation. Built about two years ago, the center is 
already fully in operation.

The president said studies and research at the center would offer bright 
hope for bumper agricultural harvests and the production of drugs and 
vaccines to tame medical ailments common to Nigeria. "We should be able to 
join the other people the world over who have adopted the cutting-edge 
advantages of biotechnology. All we need to do is to be serious and to make 
sure that we have centers like this and, of course, centers bigger than 
this, where we will have the best of our brains who are interested in this 
branch of science and technology" concluded President Obasanjo.

On a similar note, the vice chancellor of the university, Professor Salihu 
Mustafa, said Chevron had shown itself as a dependable partner in the 
development of education, adding "we want to use this opportunity, 
therefore, to thank Chevron for providing the facility."

According to the managing director of Chevron Nigeria Ltd. (CNL), Ray 
Wilcox, the provision of the facility was based on the partnerships Chevron 
has built with the government and people of Nigeria at various levels. 
Wilcox also attributed the creation of the center to the company's efforts 
to contribute to the improvement of education in Nigeria and Chevron's 
sincere desire to continue to assist in the overall growth of the country, 
particularly in areas such as scientific and technological development.

Dick Filgate, CNL's Asset Management general manager, spoke on behalf of 
Wilcox, saying that when Chevron decided to build and equip the facility, 
the company's major preoccupation was to assist the university in getting 
access to "this important science which can be applied extensively in 
agriculture and pharmacology. The frontiers of biotechnology are being 
extended by the day," Filgate continued. "Ongoing research indicates that 
the science may also be the key to solving malnutrition, hunger and some of 
the most daunting problems that confront humanity today. Chevron, by 
building this center, has helped to open these frontiers to the Federal 
University of Technology, Yola."



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