Group Petitions AGF over Unfair Distribution of NLNG Train 7 Projects

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Northern Voices for Equity and Justice (NVEJ) has petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami over what it called an unfair distribution of the ongoing Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 7 Project contracts across all regions of the country.

In a statement made available to journalists, the group led by Kabir Ahmed, alleged that managers of the NLNG Train 7 Project including the contractors, Saipem and Daewoo and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) are deliberately awarding contracts on the project to their proxies, associates and cronies to the exclusion of parts of Nigeria.

The NLNG project is expected to increase the six processing trains of the plant in Bonny to seven trains as well increase the current installed capacity to 30 MPTA

With the approved vendors list exceeding over  300, the NVEJ stated that there is hardly any company from the northern part of Nigeria or their business interests that are involved.

Describing it as a major missing link that continues to fuel the unending divide within the Nigerian socio-economic and political structure, the group maintained that the project remains in excess of $10 billion (N6 trillion).

It stated that this is inclusive of Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation and Commission (EPCIC)  and is expected to stretch till 2027 or a little beyond if everything goes well.

“Much as we appreciate and support the participation and capacity building of our brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta and the entire South by extension  through various projects in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, it has become  imperative that these project managers must not look away from other regions,” it said.

It added that in the area of procurement, which is supposedly the low hanging fruit in project execution, the management team must as a deliberate action, provide opportunities on the project to vendors and contractors alike from the North.