The Senate Committee on Local Content has accused a Korean firm, Daewoo Engineering and Construction Ltd, of violating Section 31 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010.
The firm’s Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Yeon Seop Jung, are both Koreans.
The committee said the law required a Nigerian to understudy any position held by an expatriate working in the oil and gas company, and by having Koreans as the top two people in the oil firm, a law had been violated.
Members of the committee had walked out on Mr. Jung who appeared in place of the Managing Director.
Daewoo and Saipem’s managing directors were invited by the committee to give evidence, following the petitions it (Senate) received on allegations of breach of Local Content Law in the execution of the Train-7 project.
The project, Nigeria’s largest gas project, valued at about $10billion, is owned by the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas Company (NLNG) and involves the construction of a liquefaction facility that will boost the company’s gas output from 22MTPA (million tons per annum) to 30MTPA.
The project sited at Bonny, Rivers State, started in May 2020, with the award of the contract to a consortium of three companies- Saipem (Italian), Daewoo (Korean), and Chiyoda (Japanese).
The Managing Director of Saipem Construction Nigeria Limited (SCNL), Mr. Walter Peviani, was quizzed for over three hours by the lawmakers about several areas of breaches of the law by the company.
The committee questioned the importation of steel from South Korea and Italy, sidelining Nigerian manufacturers in gross violation of an Act, which states that first consideration, full and fair opportunities should be given to Nigerians in the bidding process for acquiring goods and services.
