Nigerians may not notice, but, some agencies of the
Ms. Hadiza's Masterstroke
By a letter dated
So, SHI was given a direct lease of 11.2426 hectares, for 5 years beginning from
What was the Misunderstanding About?
In early 2013, Total Upstream and partners, developing [OML] 130 in the
The demand brought LADOL, a Nigerian company, who had a 15- year lease on TARKWA BAY together with SHI.
With a special purpose vehicle to execute the business, SHI-MCI, a JV was born. The terms of the JV are what gave rise to a nagging problem that almost sent out wrong signals to international investors in
What were the Contentions?
LADOL got
SHI insisted it brought in
Ugly Scenario
In 2018, as the EGINA FPSO arrived from
This writer was at the reception event held on the behalf of Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of
The August visitor was to inspect the massive EGINA FPSO moored to the quay of TARKWA BAY. All stakeholders were present at the event, except representatives of the ship builders, SHI. Media colleagues asked the question about the absence of the major contractor, but LADOL, host of the event refused to answer. Intriguingly, the visitor, while making his opening speech, warned LADOL, not to walk the route of the case at Onne, where INTEL then was seen to be domineering over competitors a.k.a. monopoly.
What's LADOL Angst?
LADOL had accused SHI of "gross negligence and total disregard to Nigerian Content laws and other regulatory requirements".
But, a Nigerian executive of SHI laughed off the accusation, maintaining that, if the company had broken even one Nigerian Content law, NCDMB, charged with that responsibility, would have penalised them, knowing how stern NCDMB are in protecting the local content laws. The source added that, LADOL had requested for 1% FOB payment on EGINA FPSO to its sister company, GRML, a free-zone management company, rather than the TSA account of the FGN. SHI as expected, requested for an explanation, but LADOL insisted on the payment.
In order not to frustrate a fresh injection of over 200,000 barrels of crude oil into the Nigerian economy, expected from the deployment of the EGINA FPSO, TOTAL had to step in and mediate.
Legal Squabbles
SHI, scared of losing its multi-million dollar investments, and LADOL insisting that they have a case, both approached the courts of law, stakeholders brought both businesses to negotiating and peacemaking tables, yet, nothing positive was reached, until, Ms.
Last Line
Government functionaries should emulate the pain-staking path that Ms.
Nelson writes from
VANGUARD
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