The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has condemned the slow pace on implementation of the Nigerian content in the oil and gas, which it attributed to the spiralling effect of corruption in the land.
Zonal chairman of the union in Lagos, Comrade Foluso Oginni, told newsmen that due to the impact of corruption, all manner of expatriates were allowed into Nigeria without caution or regard to indigenous workers in the country. He said this was also responsible for the violation of the nation’s expatriate quota by the so-called foreign expatriates, who he accused of conniving with Nigerian officials to breach the nation’s borders.
According to him, the country’s indigenous contractors in the nation’s oil and gas sector have the requisite skills and expertise to champion the growth of the industry.
He explained that local content can only become operational if corruption in the system was effectively nipped in the bud.
Oginni charged the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to partner with the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Immigration Service and other stakeholders with a view to checking the influx of foreign expatriates into Nigeria.
It will be recalled that the executive secretary of Nigerian content development and monitoring board (NCDMB), Eng. Ernest Nwapa, last week, in Abuja, said Nigeria’s participation in the manufacturing segment of the oil and gas industry stood at a 35 per cent, despite efforts by government to improve it.
He said that the segment was dominated by foreign counterparts, thereby bringing little benefits to Nigerians.
According to Oginni, the country has lost N60.8 trillion, in capital flight over the years, due to failure of companies in the oil and gas sector to develop capacity, in line with the local content initiative.
