From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

A civil society and accountability group, Nigerians for Accountability & Good Governance (NAGG) has written to President Muhammadu Buhari over allegations of violation of Nigerian Content Act by Italian Company, SAIPEM.

According to the group, Saipem’s action is despite a query handed the company by of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) through its Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote.

NAGG is calling on Buhari to compel NCDMB to make public the disciplinary actions taken against multinational oil and gas corporations who violates Nigeria laws with impunity.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB)had in a query with reference number NCDMB/MED/DS/20/050, dated October 2,2021 and titled Notice of Non-Compliance with the NOGICD ACT,2010: PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIESON THE NLNG TRAIN -7(NLNGT-7) PROJECT” accused Saipen of carrying out non-compliant procurement processes towards directly engaging foreign vendors thereby side-lining qualified Nigerian vendors in violation of the NOFICD Act and contrary to the commitments made to the Board and signed off in the NLNG 17 Nigerian Content Compliance Certificate.

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(NAGG) in a statement issued in Yenagoa by its national secretary, Salami Abubakar pointed out that though the query was issued two months ago, the outcome have allegedly been kept under the wrap in a clear attempt to quash the query and its outcome by some powerful forces within the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Abubakar averred that the call on Buhari to compel NCDMB to release the outcome of the query is due to the fact that the action of Saipem violates the Nigerian content law.

He stated that the public needs to know why Saipem has not been punished for the violation of the Nigerian law and contracts are still being awarded to the company.

The statement read in part ”The query raised very serious allegations against the Italian company, where it is accused of grossly violating Nigeria’s content law by procuring materials for the LNG Bonny Train 7 Projects in Italy at the detriment of Nigeria manufacturers. Why are the correspondences and responses of the query to Saipem hidden? Why is Saipem not punished for the violation? Why are they still in the bid for contracts for the Bonny LNG train 7 projects? This is why we strongly believe that NCDMB and its head have not been honest with the Nigerian people or the Bonny kingdom who first raised the alarm”.

“The people of Bonny Kingdom who are the host community for the Bonny LNG train 7 Project in the Niger Delta region are being deprived of their Kingdom’s 30% stake from the $12 billion project as stated in the project’s agreements due to the lack of transparency and accountability as public questions and opinions are being stifled.”