Renaissance Africa Energy Company has articulated a vision for a Niger Delta where economic growth, environmental stewardship, and community prosperity advance together, driven by purposeful investment and collective action.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Attah, spoke on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing Niger Delta Economic and Investment Summit (NDEIS) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, describing investment, innovation, and industrial growth in the Niger Delta as “not a regional preference, but a national necessity.”

According to Attah, the Niger Delta’s future prosperity depends on its ability to convert resource wealth into broad-based economic opportunities for its people.

Attah noted that while the region remains central to Nigeria’s economy, generating most of the nation’s oil revenues, its future must be shaped by a broader economic vision encompassing gas, petrochemicals, agriculture, the blue economy, and the digital economy.

He described Renaissance as a good fit into the economic development gap in the region through the company’s shared prosperity philosophy to drive energy security, industrialisation and the attendant economic prosperity including employment generation and empowerment of the people.

“The principle is simple: value created in the Niger Delta must be felt in the Niger Delta,” Attah said.

Speaking on the practical steps the company has taken to actualise its shared prosperity model in the Niger Delta, Attah said Renaissance has established 32 Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) covering more than 300 communities across Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Imo States, and has remitted over ?149 billion to support community-led development initiatives.

“As of August 2026, 473 projects and programmes had been completed through the trusts,” Attah said, adding that the company’s investments extend beyond statutory obligations to include healthcare, education, access to energy, enterprise development, and rural infrastructure.

“Our Community Health Insurance Schemes widen access to care. Our educational scholarships prepare the engineers and entrepreneurs this region needs. Our enterprise development programmes back the small businesses that sustain any economy. None of it is required by law. All of it is deliberate,” he said.

Speaking on the company’s growing productivity without compromising environmental stewardship, Renaissance’s Vice President, Relations and Sustainable Development, Igo Weli, at a plenary session at the summit, argued that meeting the world’s growing energy needs and protecting the environment are complementary rather than competing objectives.

“Nature and the need for energy are not necessarily in conflict. They can coexist and serve everyone well,” Weli said.

Weli noted that Renaissance promotes environmental sustainability through various initiatives including the cultivation of a 1,000-tree green belt at the University of Benin through the Campus GreenBelt initiative; an ambition to establish one million trees across Nigerian Universities and secondary schools; and efforts to repurpose disused borrow pits into fishponds and other economically viable assets before they are returned to their original owners.

He however called for a collective action as the missing critical ingredient for the acceleration of development in the Niger Delta.

Weli said, “We have a lot of talk and plans, but not enough cohesive action. At Renaissance, we are about action. Plans alone will not create employment for the many trained young people across the Niger Delta. Action will.”

He cited Renaissance’s partnership with the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) to equip young people with employability skills and improve workforce readiness among Niger Delta youths seeking career opportunities in the energy sector.

On the future of the region, Weli called for the establishment of a major industrial park capable of stimulating investment, creating jobs and supporting economic diversification within the next three years.

Both Attah and Weli stressed that the future of the Niger Delta will depend on stronger collaboration among governments, regulators, businesses, development institutions, academia, and host communities.

•PHOTO CAPTION: L-R: Vice President, Relations and Sustainable Development, Renaissance Africa Energy Company, Igo Weli; Chairman, Niger Delta Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCCITMA), Idaere Gogo-Ogan; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Renaissance, Tony Attah, at the Niger Delta Economic & Investment Summit, in Port Harcourt… on Wednesday.