The management of Willbros Nigeria Limited, has called for support to enable the indigenous firm to rise above the ongoing bribery scandal rocking Willbros International.
Rather than focus on the scandal, the management urged that attention should be given to the efforts that were being made by the new owners of the company to compete effectively in an industry dominated by foreign firms.
Notwithstanding the fact that the indigenous owners acquired all the assets and liabilities of the old Willbros, the Chief Operating Officer, WNL, Mr. Steve Judd, told our correspondent on Monday, �The company has now moved forward and we have re-created it to a full Nigerian company and transformed the management.�
He said the new owners had succeeded in moving back to the yard and started work, as it was now also executing new projects in addition to the old ones.
The Executive Vice-President/Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Nwachukwu, said, �We have also started working at the fabrication yard in Choba, Rivers State, and clients who did not want to come anywhere near there because of the Niger Delta crises was now coming.�
He added that since the resumption of operations at the yard, at least 150 Nigerians with an expatriate were training people there.
He insisted that WNL is not owned by any former governor or minister, as being speculated.
Rather, he explained, �The Wilbros buy-over was facilitated with a $160m loan from Intercontinental Bank Plc, as the lead arranger. Insinuations about the minister and former governors owning the company are mere distractions to smear the image of the new company.�
He noted that on the take- over of the company by its new owners, �We wrote to the state governments for support and invited them to take stakes in the company to ensure its security as a truly Nigerian company.�
Nwachukwu urged Nigerians to give the company a chance to succeed, rather than keep dragging it into the old Wilbros scandal.
According to him, �This company is currently the biggest local content vehicle in Nigeria. Hitherto, all the income realised from Wilbros operations in Nigeria were repatriated to America, but now, such funds are retained here for further development.�
He argued that the successes recorded by the company in the last six months should be played up instead of continuing to link it with the bribery scandal.
Effective from first quarter of 2008, the company will assume a new corporate identity as Ascot Offshore Nigeria Limited.
Ascot is the indigenous firm that bought over Wilbros West Africa Incorporated, when it divested from Nigeria.
The name change became imperative, following the bribery scandal that has trailed the Wilbros Group since 2004.
Dec132007