Consultant Raises Alarm over Threat to Local Content Act in Niger Delta
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Deziani Allison-Madueke
By Christopher Odamah, Warri
The implementation of the Local Content Act, enacted by the Federal Government to cater for the poor especially in the Niger Delta, is being threatened except drastic steps are taken to address the situation.
This was raised by the Community Affairs Consultant, Mr. Christopher Agaga, from Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State during a chat with newsmen at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre, Gbiaye Street, Warri, recently.
According to Mr. Agaga, the Federal Government should inaugurate a task force made up of credible individuals from the grassroots, who understand the people and terrain and who will also monitor projects being executed by foreign companies in project sites.
He said “What the FG should do is come out of the office and go to sites by way of inaugurating a special task force. I mean people, who will monitor what is going on at the projects sites.”
When a contract is awarded, he charged the NNPC to interpret the terms of reference to the task force who will then monitor its execution. The task force should synergise with the local governments, community leaders and state governments to have a data base of numbers of the unemployed, qualified people, job spaces in each project and make sure that foreign companies implement the local content act to the letter.
Mr. Agaga noted that in spite of the good intention of President Goodluck Jonathan to make life meaningful to the common man by reducing unemployment through the Local Content Act, some individuals and, what he called ‘a cabal’ in foreign oil companies in Nigeria are frustrating the efforts.
“I am really crying for the President Goodluck Jonathan administration. I really pity him. He has a good intention. The problem of the President is the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke . I know many people would want to talk on this matter. The cabal siphoning employment slots of poor Nigerians and subcontracts are all in the Public Affairs Departments of the foreign oil companies,” he stated.
Agaga accused the foreign oil companies, with the connivance of some Nigerians, of violating the Local Content Act to enrich themselves and their countries.
In his words, “When projects are to be awarded to any foreign company, there is a piece of information inside every contract concerning the number of Nigerian and foreign workers to be employed. But once the contract is awarded, it will be subcontracted to foreign companies abroad through proxy (that is, senior managers of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). They will make the board of directors of NNPC to sign the agreement. And when the project is finally awarded, they engage just about 10 to 15 per cent of local workers.
Mr. Agaga stated also that “If a project is awarded to a foreign company and it’s to take say 30,000 to 40,000 Nigerian youths and the project is to take two or three years, they will employ about 500 Nigerians and employ workers from abroad and the economy of their country is boosted.”
On modalities in constituting the task force, Mr Agaga said qualified hands should be done state by state, local government by local government and company by company through the recommendation of state governors, House of Representatives’ members and the president himself.
Hinting that there is already a strain relationship between foreign oil companies and their hosts no thanks to high rate of unemployment, Mr. Agaga charged President Jonathan to order the Minister of Petroleum and Chairman of the Local Content to X-ray the board if the purpose of the act which is to formulate, implement, monitor and enforce has not being defeated.
