TEJIRI EBIKEME
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke have come under fire from the Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) over alleged total failure of the Nigerian Local Content, three years after it came on stream.
The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act was signed into Law by President Goodluck Jonathan April 22, 2010 to enforce the growth of local capacity and promote indigenous participation in the Oil and Gas Industry.
But the oil monitoring group, NDIMRC in a statement on Wednesday by its President Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Stanley Mukoro, lambasted President Jonathan and Mrss. Diezani Alison-Madueke, saying that the three years of the Nigerian Content had brought more pains than joy to indigenous Oil and Gas firms in the region even as it called for the urgent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
The Group wrote thus; “We want to say that the Nigerian Content is a total failure three years after the Act was signed into Law by President Goodluck. In April 22, 2010, when the President signed the Act into Law, we were so excited, but three years on, we cannot say that this is time for celebration because our people in the region who invested heavily in capacity building as a result of their high hope in the Nigerian Content are not being encouraged by the President and the Nigerian Petroleum Minister.”
According to the group also; “The Nigerian Content is already a failure as far as we are concerned. The Nigerian Content has not added value to indigenous firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta region and this is very sad because our people are getting poorer under President Jonathan and Petroleum Minister.”
NDIMRC also said; “The Petroleum Minister must give the people of the Niger Delta region a better deal for their resources. Three years after the Nigerian Content was signed into Law, the multinational oil companies such as OPI, Castle Oil Corporation, Daewoo, Saipem, Acergy, Nestoil, Globestar and others are picking up all the juicy contracts, leaving the Southerners in penury, enough is enough. The President and the Petroleum Minister must go back to the drawing board and find out why the Nigerian Content has failed to empower our industrious investors in the Niger Delta region. We need the empowerment of our people now that we have the President and the Minister from the region.”
According to the group, “It is very sad that our hardworking investors are not being empowered under President Jonathan. The President and the Petroleum Minister have failed our people. The Petroleum Minister and others should stop going to America to deceive the world that they have empowered indigenous oil and gas firms in the Niger Delta region.”
On the PIB, the group said; “We have observed that some Nigerians are against the passage of the PIB because it is favourable to the Niger Delta people. It is very worrisome that the Bill has not been passed six years after it was introduced in the National Assembly and we are appealing to our Lawmakers to accord the Bill the urgent attention needed for its passage. It is disturbing that a Bill central to the oil economy of the nation is suffering such delay. We are very worried over the future of our suffering people and the oil communities hence we are calling for the urgent passage of the PIB to address the long years of neglect of the Niger Delta region and empowerment of our people.”
