$ 16 Billion Egina Probe: Changing our mentality is better than changing the NOGICD Act – Roland Ewubare advice the Senate

$ 16 Billion Egina Probe: Changing our mentality is better than changing the NOGICD Act – Roland Ewubare adviced the Senate

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As the investigation of the local content component and cost variations of the Total Upstream Nigeria Limited $ 16 billion Egina Deep Sea Oil project continues, the Senate has stated that it is urgent to change Nigeria’s oil industry. and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010, as it is currently not achieving the objectives for which it was promulgated, with Nigeria and Nigerians the big losers.
The chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Investigation of the Local Salary and Cost Variation of $ 16 Billion for the Deep Sea Project of Egina, Senator Solomon Adeola, made the statement during one of its sessions, as the investigations varied Gaps in local content law exploited by foreign companies with some local collaborators “From what we discover in this research, it is clear that the Local Content Act does not do much, because Nigeria has billions of expats loses hard currency and not much local skill or technology transfer We have a case of awarding a contract of $ 42 million to a supposedly local company of Total Upstream Nigeria Limited as part of the Egina project, with Total making direct payments on behalf of the local company another foreign company in a pipeline procurement contract without the money pa ssieren the Nigerian company. This is unacceptable and is a circumvention of the NOGICD Act. It is obvious that indigenous companies are only used as conduits if they are used at all. “(19659005) However, Group CEO NAPIMS, Barr. Roland Ewubare, denounced attempts to publicize an impression that some individuals or organizations deliberately weaken the local content act by collaborating with IOCs to infiltrate the nations oil facilities
During the representation of GMD Dr. Maikanti Baru, and the COO of NNPC at the hearing on Tuesday, Barrister Ewubare said that activities in the oil and gas industry are only understood by logical minds because of their operations with global best practices This statement was the answer to the fact that an allusion to the Chairman’s statement that some of the documents requested by the NAPIMS committee regarding the approval of variations of the same contract with Total did not
This comment did not go The GGM, differing from the impression de s Senate ad hoc committee showed that there could be an obvious agreement on the part of NAPIMS to cover up actions that amount to abuse of local content laws.
HE Senator Godswill Akpabio, Senator Adeola Solomon (Chairman), Senator Albert Bassey and Sen. Geshon Bassey accept NNPC, Total and others in the ongoing Egina Trial
Former Secretary of National Human Rights The Commission took the opportunity to adopt a vote of confidence for the partner of the NNPC, which he had previously claimed to have lived up to his side of the agreement in the ongoing Egina project. In his words: “There is nothing that Total has done, which in my opinion can be described as arbitrary, but if there are any problems, we have mechanisms in the contract to solve them at the end of the project.”
He continued to regret why the Senate would demand an audit of an NNPC project and also expect the NNPC or its partners Total to pay for the audit, which was never assessed in the course of the project.
Industry analysts and observers are concerned that ongoing investigations by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee may further worsen the confidence of other potential investors in the country’s oil and gas sector, while the world almost calls the Egina Sounding a “trial”. the French consider oil giants and their partners.
It is noteworthy, however, that the ad hoc committee had made surprising discoveries by “unqualified foreign companies”, such as NOV Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited, which puts a billion-dollar pupil in the corner. A contract that is usually sent to Nigerian companies should go from Total Upstream, while various types of suspicious variations of original contract amounts in millions of dollars are embedded in the Egina project, which emphasize that it is either the regulatory mechanism under NOGICD weak or there are agreements from the Nigerian end to to undermine its effectiveness.
The Chairman said the new amendment would seek to ensure final approval of projects and their implementation under the NOGICD Law in the National Assembly in order to ensure strict compliance with the revelations that many things have done to date in favor of International Oil Companies (IOCs) and some local collaborators against the interest of Nigeria and Nigeria in general were wrongly
We will remember that a member of the Senate Chukwuma Committee is Utazi, who reveals that he was, before becoming a senator, part of the civil society group that fought for the adoption of the NOGICD Act. I regret that Nigeria apparently worked with local IOCs to free Nigeria from its resources. If Nigerian companies can not benefit from mere procurement contracts, it is unlikely that we will benefit from the technical aspects of the oil and contracts for the gas industry.
During the trial, Mr. Mario Lagunes, Managing Director of FMC Technologies Nigeria Limited, a Mexican who received a submarine pipeline contract that varied from $ 1.3 billion to $ 1.6 billion in the Egina project informed the committee that its Nigerian company is 100% owned by a parent company in the Netherlands and the dividend is paid out to the offshore owners.
The panel frowned as three-quarters of FMC Technologies Limited’s procurement was purchased overseas with regulatory approval in blatant violation of the NOGICD Act.
It is also recalled that the Senate decision to investigate Egina The project was passed to ensure that Nigeria derives the maximum benefit from the project and any errors in two similar offshore projects, namely Bonga Southwest, Aparo and Zabazaba that can emerge in the industry, avoid.
Other companies involved The Egina project, which appeared before the committee with Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd and Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI), includes Dorman Long Nigeria Limited, AVEON, Bell Oil and Gas Services Ltd, EWT Services Ltd and DUCO Technic Offshore Ltd. Sapiem Contracting Nig.
The question of transfer pricing and taxation was given special consideration as to why these companies are arbitrarily taking money out of the country. Against this background, the Committee confirmed that representatives of the FIRS will be present at the next hearing to clarify the air on this issue, in particular to determine the tax status of these foreign companies.
According to Senator Adeola, “A company like the FMC, which is 98% foreign-owned, was supposedly set up for the purpose of this Egina project, and you know that if you take more of your profits out of the country, it will Considered as transfer pricing, because even in Houston, Texas. In this center of the American oil and gas industry, there are projects reserved exclusively for American citizens. ”
Therefore, we need FIRS and other relevant government agencies that appear before us and theirs Opinion on all these issues as there is no further approval by the NOGIDC Board, except by the National Assembly. ”
How can NAPIMS conclude a contract with Total and Total awards another contract to subcontractors who are indirectly forced by Total to give consent to a certain company to execute a contract in the Egina project.”
“Indeed Zabazaba and Bonga South-West are approved by the National Assembly only after examination of Egina The project is completed, “he said.
How can NAPIMS sign a document on behalf of the Nigerian government, and Total offers a contract document that differs from the contract signed by NAPIMS and resulted in a $ 1.3 billion change when funding is 90% in dollars and 10% in Naira without the project being executed. ”
” What could have led to these inflation if exchange rate differences have remained constant when 90% is paid in dollars? “Against this background, the Senate Ad Hoc Committee has confirmed that an American company will conduct a forensic examination with a notice period of 16 weeks to submit its report to the committee and if anyone files the motion
The committee also called for the presence of Samsung Goje South Korea over its role in the role of Ladol over a $ 150-million work yard built by Samsung for $ 300 million, the contract Total handed over to them