Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
A group, Concerned Stakeholders in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, has raised an alarm over paucity of jobs for indigenous contractors in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, warning that it has led to unemployment.
The group further insisted that the situation, which has greatly affected the economy, is capable of subverting all the hard work the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has recorded in the economic development in the country.
Speaking at an interactive forum with newsmen over the weekend in Abuja, the spokespersons for the group, Zaharadeen Ahmed and Kingsley Okoro, lamented that lots of the Oil multinationals like Shell, Chevron and Halliburton have placed many of their projects on hold for undisclosed reasons.
They deplored the drought in engineering, procurement, construction and onshore commissioning (EPC) contracts, which are key areas for indigenous/local contractors in the sector.
“New contracts for Tank Fabrication, Pipeline laying and other locally executed contracts which formed the nucleus of the local economy had not been negotiated or awarded for a while just as the once previously awarded but not concluded had been placed on hold,” they lamented.
The group further disclosed that; “local contractors have been unable to meet their financial and other commitments thereby leading to massive staff layoff in the sector which is frustrating the development of the oil and gas sector of the economy and the oil-producing areas.”