Nigeria is in danger of losing $20 billion (N2.5 trillion) oil and gas investments to its neigbouring countries due to the destruction of oil and gas-related activities in Lagos area, the unresolved Niger Delta crisis and the insincerity of government in the implementation of the local content policy.
Local operators disclosed this during the visit of Odein Ajumogobia, minister of state for energy (petroleum) to their facilities in Lagos Monday.
The country, according to the operators who craved for anonymity, was losing oil and gas businesses to Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana and South Africa. Some of the service providers, they said, had been forced to establish bases in the neighbouring countries.
Government�s insincerity in the implementation of the local content policy has made it impossible for the indigenous firms to get enough jobs in the industry to remain in business and sustain their highly trained manpower, said the operators.
The Niger Delta crisis and the new trend in Lagos where oil and gas �related services are being destroyed have also forced some of the industry operators in Lagos to establish bases in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Ladi Jadesimi, executive chairman of Ladol, said that the country was fast losing huge oil and gas investments to the neighbouring countries.
Jadesimi said many new deep offshore oil blocs were located west of the Niger Delta and could only be economically serviced by oil services firms in Lagos due to their closeness.
He said Ladol and other companies that were set up in Lagos to support new oil blocs located west of the Niger Delta had been seriously affected by lack of jobs for local operators and the disruption of oil and gas-related activities in Lagos area.
“A ground breaking $800 million project being carried out in Nigeria, the first of its kind in the world, was completely stopped. At a cost to Nigeria, a $1.5 million-a-day specialised vessel chartered for the project was forced to wait outside Lagos for six weeks, despite having paid N2 billion in customs duties and Nigeria Ports Authority�s charges as well as having all the required approvals,” he said.
According to him, the vessel was forced to sail to Onne where it paid additional fees before coming back to Lagos to work. “The losers are the Nigerian people who have to bear the additional costs and suffer the long-term consequences of not having adequate indigenous facilities in Nigeria to maintain Nigeria�s oil exports,” he said.
Anwar Jarmakani, chairman of Jagal Group of Companies, owners of Nigerdock, said Nigerian companies were being suffocated out of business because jobs that were supposed to be done in the country were fabricated outside the country.
Jarmakani described as the latest the technology in Nigerdock�s open-yard facility, pressure vessels, gas furnace and offshore fabrication. “We are on top of the technology. Most of the yards worldwide do not have this technology. It is 2007 technology.”
Henry Okolo, vice chairman and chief executive of Dorman Long Engineering Limited, said the indigenous players were not getting enough jobs despite the huge investment they made to enhance their capacities and capabilities.