By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Alleged breach of the Local Content Act by Chinese firms operating in Nigeria is giving concern to the House of Representatives.
House Local Content Committee, chaired by Legor Idagbor, warned on Wednesday that the Lower Chamber will not condone any situation that negatively affects indigenous firms in the country.
Per reporting by The Guardian, lawmakers are probing alleged breaches of the local content law in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) project for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of the 40 ×318.6 km Kaduna-Kano section of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipelines project awarded to Brentex Consortium.
“China must be mindful of what our local content law says even if they are the ones bringing monies to fund our projects,” Idagbor said after listening to Bablink Resources Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Bolaji Isiaka.
He added: “We will follow up on this matter. We are not unmindful that they may not respect the laws 100 per cent, that is why we request substantial compliance. Ours is to protect the commoners, the average Nigerians, and stand up for them.”
Isiaka told the lawmakers that in the bid to satisfy Chinese firms, Brentex Consortium breached the terms of the agreement to engage Bablink, which has the expertise and experience, in the execution of the contract worth over $2.6 billion.
His words: “We have tried every means of conflict resolution. All they could say is that I should go to court. That is why I am here to seek your intervention on the issue.
“What we want the Parliament to do is to force the NNPC and the Chinese company to come to the table and provide and take away the Chinese content from the contract and allow the local content to provide it.
“Let nobody deceive you, China is not doing us a favour by borrowing us money. They have collected Sovereignty Guarantee, meaning that we are going to pay at very high rate.
“They have taken more than 60 per cent. In the Local Content Law, there is nothing like Chinese content. We will not accept it and if we need to go to court, we will do that.”
But Brentex Chief Executive Officer, Sani Abubakar, insisted that the firm is owned 100 per cent by Nigerians and did not violate the Local Content Law.
He, however, admitted there is a relationship between Brentex Petroleum, which is separate from Brentex Consortium, and Bablink Resources.
Abubakar claimed that no fewer than 10,000 Nigerians would be engaged in the execution the contract, and his company did not err in law by engaging 50 Chinese experts because the fund was sourced from the Chinese government.
Gas and Power Chief Operating Officer, Yusuf Usman, who stood in for NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, acknowledged the deal on the pipeline project with Brentex Consortium.
He, however, said Brentex was at liberty to determine any agreement with other firms in executing the contract.
The committee summoned the heads of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE), the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to provide documents that show the owners of Brentex.