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Tag: LADOL

  • How investors’ll gain from sector’s $12tr, by LADOL chief

    How investors’ll gain from sector’s $12tr, by LADOL chief

    Investors  stand to benefit from  the opportunities in the oil and gas sector worth $12trillion, the Chief Executive Officer, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL), Dr Amy Jadesinmi, has said.

    Presenting a paper titled: “Business leaders to promote $12 trillion global economic development target,”at a conference organised by the Business and Sustainable Development Commission (BSDC) in London, Jadesinmi said the investments spaned  oil and gas, agriculture, maritime, Information Technology (IT), industry, and banking.

    Areas affected by environmental pollution during exploration and production, she said, would also benefit from the investments, adding that carbon emissions and pollution have compounded the woes of operators in the sector, thereby making it difficult for the industry to record the desired growth.

    She urged the Federal Government to leverage the opportunity to develop critical sectors of its economy, especially petroleum.

    A member of the 36-member Commission drawn from petroleum, business, finance, civil society, labour, and international organisations across the world, Jadesinmi believed that the initiative would bring about more opportunities for countries.

    Citing the report of the Commission, Jadesinmi said: “Beyond the $12 trillion estimated, conservative analysis shows potential for an additional US$8 trillion of value creation across the wider economy, if companies in the oil sector and others embrace the idea.

    She said at the heart of the Commission  are the Sustainable Development Goals ’s 17 goals of eliminating poverty, improving education and health outcomes, creating better jobs and tackle oil pollution and other  key environmental challenges by 2030.

    She said: “The Commission believes the Global Goals provide the private sector with a new growth strategy that opens valuable market opportunities, while at the same time, creating a world that is both sustainable and inclusive. And the potential rewards for doing so are significant. We need to show these ideas work not just in a report but on the business frontline.’’

    She noted that last year the Commission tackled questions, such as How to address challenges facing the oil, banking and other sectors of the economy globally, and what will it take for business to be central to building a sustainable market economy?

  • Ministry queries LADOL for gazette on oil, gas cargo

    Ministry queries LADOL for gazette on oil, gas cargo

    The Federal Ministry of Transportation has queried the management of LADOL Integrated Logistics FZE to explain how it came about a “purported’’ gazette, which enabled the company to receive ships carrying oil and gas-related cargoes.

    A source close to the ministry said on Sunday that this was contained in the correspondence between LADOL and the ministry.

    The ministry recalled that at a meeting between the Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and maritime stakeholders in March, LADOL presented a gazette, which the ministry said its authenticity was in doubt.

    The ministry demanded that LADOL furnished it with more information on how it came about the purported gazette No 54 , Volume 95, of Lagos, September 4, 2008, which allowed it to receive a maximum of two-ocean going ships per week.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the March meeting, the minister told terminal operators to submit documents to show there were no terminals dedicated to handle oil and gas cargoes.

    The minister explained that the Presidential approval of April 20, 2015, be strictly complied with by relevant maritime stakeholders.

    According to the ministry, the presidential approval states that “the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project can be located at Agge, Bayelsa State, when the facilities to handle such operations are developed.

    “In addition, the FPSO can be conveniently located at any designated oil and gas terminal. All oil and gas-related cargoes must be handled only at designated terminals as in the letter from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

    “Operators are, however, free to choose the port of discharge for their cargoes within the designated terminals at Onne, Warri and Calabar,’’ the ministry said.

  • LADOL, Nigerdock spend over $1b on facilities

    LADOL, Nigerdock spend over $1b on facilities

    Two of Nigeria’s ship repair and fabrication yards, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) and Nigerdock, have invested over $1.1billion to enhance their productive capacity. This is in line with their mandate to meet the Local Content requirement in the fabrication and building of oil platforms for International Oil Companies  (IOCs) and indigenous oil production and servicing firms.

    The Chief Executive, LADOL, Dr. Amy  Jadesimi, and the  Group Executive Chairman, JAGAL Group, operators of Nigerdock, Anwar Jarmakani, who spoke separately yesterday when they received the  Controller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Col Hameed Ali (rtd),  said they have invested $600million and $500million respectively to improve on service delivery.

    In response to Mrs Jadesimi’s wellcome address, Ali, expressed delight at the giant strides of the wholly indigenous owned facility which has so far attracted $600million in local content input. He said for  an indigenous investor to take such bold step amid the risk in undertaking such ventures, the project must be appreciated by the Presidency.

    Ali said: “I have come and I have seen, they say ‘seeing is believing’. I will take the message to President Muhammadu Buhari whom I’m sure will be impressed if he gets to know what you are doing here. The President is interested, more so that you are the first people that are doing this kind of project in West Africa…and to say that your organisation is owned by Nigerians, it is amazing.

    “With what you are doing here, I have no doubt that government will continue to support and encourage you. “Any government will be glad to support an entity such as this that will put us (Nigeria) at par with other industrially developed countries of the world.”

    Dr. Jadesimi said the zone which has been developed into a world-class facility from a swamp, has so far generated about N16.9billion in revenue in the past 10 years.

    “Over the years, we have done our best in terms of Customs revenue generation. So far, we have generated almost N16.9billion as Customs revenue,” she said, adding that more would come when the project is completed.

    Going forward for the Egina project,  the customs duty of the FPSO will be paid through the Apapa Customs Command and that will be determined by the Customs assessment team in the area of value.

    “What we can tell you so far is that the value of what we have been doing is put at about $20 million. We are sure that with that, we will be able to give you the percentage of the $3.8billoin worth of the entire vessel for your overall assessment.

    “The essence of what we are doing now is that you spend about two years building the vessel, bring in a lot of raw materials for the fabrication before the vessel goes out into the customs territory and that is the point at which you pay duty,” she said.

    She said beyond revenue generation, other socio-economic values, such as jobs as well as preservation of foreign exchange are other advantages of the project to the nation.

    “The number of enterprises at the free zone has also been increasing. We are expanding our activities and looking at agricultural processing, just as we are focusing on job creation. By the end of this year, we estimated that we would have created over 2000 jobs,” she said.

    On his part, Jarmakani said the company has invested additional $500million on the facility and urged the Federal Government to stop monopoly in the country’s oil and gas logistics and supply service as it makes the sector uncompetitive.

    He said the monopoly has forced the oil and gas industry and the nation into capitulation.

    Jarmakani said: “The Nigeria oil and gas supply and logistics services is the most expensive in the world because of its entrenched monopoly. They have driven away investments from Nigeria and seriously damaged the international reputation of Nigeria.”

    He also alleged that monopolists have consistently and aggressively used different government institutions to compromise, maintain and entrench its monopoly position with impunity. According to him,  attempts have been made in the past to use the Customs. He however expressed appreciation that the present administration is aggressively doing away with what he described as “impunity.”

    He stated the readiness of his company to compete favorably in the sector. “Snake Island Integrated Free Zone and Nigerdock are open for competive business and we are determined to bring down  operational costs by at

  • $3.8b FPSO: Content Board, firms laud LADOL over Egina project

    The journey to fully realise the $3.8 billion Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) oil platform reached another milestones yesterday, with the site tour by government agents and other concerned stakeholders who said the work done so far met international standards.

    The platform otherwise known as Egina project was awarded to Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) in 2013 to build a world class oil production platform in Nigeria with the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL), acting as the local content partner.

    Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),  Daziba Patrick Obah, and Deputy Managing Director, Total, Musa Kida,  led a team of representatives of other International Oil Companies (IOCs) and top managers of Gulf Trade Bank (GTB), on an inspection tour of the project site at LADOL base in Tarkwa bay, Apapa-Lagos.

    The team comprising representatives of IOCs such as ENI, Chevron, Agip, Shell, Ezon Mobil, and others, were received by the Executive Chairman of LADOL, Mr. Ladi Jadesimi.

    The stakeholders who took turn to speak with reporters after a tour of the project site were unanimous that the FPSO is indeed a game changer for the nation’s economy. They added that it was capable of seeing the country make a quantum leap in her quest join the club G30 by year 2020.

    Kida said Total  was proud to be associated with the  fact that oil firm strongly believes the Nigerian Content is here to stay.

    “It was a huge technical struggle in taking the risk to believe that this integration can indeed take place here or anywhere in Nigeria. Now it has remained our pride for taking this step, and we remain committed to it,” he said.

    To this end, the Total oil chief appealed to government and other IOCs not to make the Egina fabrication “a one-off project that will seize to attract other projects.

    “This facility has been built to international standards, and Total is very comfortable with work done here so far as we believe that the base is capable of fabricating very huge modules that will be utilised in the FPSO. Egina installation will be side-by-side here by early next year, so it is going to be more impressive. My appeal therefore is that my colleagues in the oil industry should sustain this good beginning by ensuring that other FPSOs are done here at LADOL base,” he added.

  • LADOL to invest extra $5b in Nigeria

    LADOL to invest extra $5b in Nigeria

    • Buhari commends firm for strategic investment

    The Managing Director of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL), Dr. Amy Jadesimi, has outlined plans to attract $5billion investments into the country in the Lagos Free Trade Zone.

    Jadesimi, who spoke yesterday in Abuja at  the sixth African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition (CAPE VI) organised by the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA), said,  given the spate of growth at the zone, “the success of LADOL has attracted new investors to Nigeria who are partnering with credible Nigerian investors leading to the creation of dozens of similar facilities.”

    In her paper, titled,’Driving Economic Growth through Local Private Sector Investments in Nigeria,’ she said  in 2010 alone, 130 oil rigs were towed from Wes Africa across the Indian Ocean to the Far East for repairs, adding, “with LADOL and similar facilities now on ground, more of such ventures would be done in Nigeria thereby saving the country avoidable capital flight.”

    At the event, President Muhammadu Buhari identified the unique contribution of LADOL as one of the strategic investments in the country that currently drives the nation’s economy.

    Buhari spoke when he declared open  the  APPA event.

    Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), Buhari identified LADOL, which has invested over $600million in private investment, as one of the companies that is currently adding the most value to the Nigerian economy through its ingenious investments.

    While lauding the efforts of the indigenous organisation in building economic growth, the President also commended Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), which is currently building one of the world’s largest oil platforms at the LADOL base in Tarkwa Bay, Lagos.

    The LADOL/SHI project referred to as Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform and valued at $3.8billion is said to be first of its kind to be built in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Buhari who urged other investors to emulate the LADOL example, said African countries should develop ingenious ways of promoting value addition and investments through sustainable policies in local content.

    Reports indicate that through the LADOL/SHI FPSO project, the industry has been boosted with 5,000 direct jobs and over 50,000 indirect employments by leveraging on the Local Content Act 2010.

    Appraising the local content achievements of the organisation, the president said: “A common approach to local content will ensure that the whole of Africa benefits from economies of scale associated with our vast resources.”

    President Buhari noted further that ongoing mega projects such as the LADOL/SHI Oil Platform; the General Electric Service Centre for Manufacturing Rotating Equipment in Calabar; and the Dangote Refinery in Lagos are some of the most strategic investment to an emancipated African economy.

    The President who described LADOL industrial free zone in Lagos – a wholly indigenous, privately developed and hosting the largest shipyard in West Africa allied with the Samsung FPSO integration yard at the base, said the joint venture will aid Nigeria’s quest for her pride of place as a leading world economy.

    The President stressed that the continent must recognize that the development of domestic refining capacity in the oil and gas sector would remain critical to sustainable economic growth. He also noted that Nigeria, which recently announced a new timeline to end gas flaring at her oil fields, was on course to see this out.

  • LADOL’s N51b vessel facility ‘ll boost economy, says NPA

    The N51 billion vessel fabrication facility built by Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) will create jobs and boost the economy, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Managing Director Mallam Habib Abdullahi has said.

    He praised the facility’s promoters for their contributions to the industry urging other investors to follow suit.

    The facility is located at the back of Lagos ports.

    Conducting the NPA boss round the facility, LADOL’s  Managing Director Dr Amy Jadesimi and the Managing Director of SHI-MCI, Mr Dong Seong Suh, said the  facility with a quay length of 520 metres, depth of 13.5 metres and heavy lifting area of 5,000 metric tonnes is designed to become  largest vessel fabrication and integration facility in Nigeria and Africa.

    The facility, Jadesimi said, would create 5,000 direct and 50,000 indirect jobs.

    The facility, she said, is the first fabrication and integration yard in Africa with an area of 121,000 square metres consisting of an assembling area, a painting shop, utility and warehouse area with a production capacity of 10, 000 metric tonnes.

    The project, on completion by October next year, the LADOL boss said, will be capable of fabricating 1,000 metric tonnes per month as well as integrating the Egina FPSO and other FPSO projects expected to be done in the country.

    She listed ongoing projects  to include a passenger terminal with an emergency response facility and the capacity to accommodate 1,000 passengers, which is due to be completed in 2017. She also spoke of an integrated quay wall with a built design of 13.5-metre draught and 500-metre long to be completed next year.

    Jadesinmi expressed appreciation to the management of NPA for its support and cooperation over the years, which she said, has given her company the opportunity it enjoys presently.

    Commending the joint project, Abdullahi  said he was happy not only as the MD of NPA, but as a Nigerian because of the huge investment within the LADOL Base in Lagos.

    The facility, the NPA boss said, would not only add value to the economy, but promote indigenous growth and provide stiff competition in the maritime and oil and gas industry.

    Abdullahi assured the promoters of the project that NPA will continue to provide security around the facility and give it all the necessary support to grow and boost the economy.

    “I am proud of this huge investment, not only as somebody representing the Nigerian Ports Authority, but as a Nigerian seeing other Nigerians promoting this kind of investment in our country.

    “The project is not only to be of great benefit to the NPA, but also to the economy. And I believe this is the type of investment any government will like to welcome. This project will provide more investment, generate employment, and will provide peace and security that will allow other investors to invest in our country.

    “I am very impressed what the LADOL MD said what we need to promote the economy is competition, collaboration, synergy, reconciliation if there is any and robust partnership that will serve as encouragement for others to come in.

    “ As the landlord, we will do all we can do to make sure that we give all the necessary encouragement not only to LADOL, but to other companies that are willing to invest in our country,” Abdullahi said.

    He also assured the company of the NPA’s  support and collaboration in the areas of security, pilotage, dredging and safe channels among others.

  • LADOL wins award

    LADOL Nigeria Limited has carted home five awards in this year’s edition of the Global Free Trade Zone Awards. The awards include Sub- Sahara African Regional Free Zones award, Large Tenant award for Africa, African Free Trade Zone of the Year award, African Free Zone of the Year award, Self–Sufficiency Award and Infrastructure Improvements award.

    A statement by LADOL’s Managing Director, Dr. Amy Jadesinmi said the firm won the Large Tenants award following its decision to increase capacity at the zone by 37.5 per cent in 2013 and last year.

    She said the Free Trade Zone of the Year award was meant to celebrate the zone’s reinvesting, expanding and upgrading of its facilities, which has halved the cost of logistics by 50 per cent, as well as improving the operation of stakeholders in the oil and gas value chain.

    “The awards were given, after a review of free trade zones globally by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine, United Kingdom, and for LADOL to be recognised this way is a testament to the great work that the firm has done in putting the Lagos Free Trade Zone at par with the world’s best.

    “LADOL is proud to be part of some laudable projects in the region that is changing the dynamic of the Nigerian economy and facilitating business domestically and attracting business from international markets,” she said.

  • INTELS to LADOL: Stop harmful propaganda

    INTELS to LADOL: Stop harmful propaganda

    The management of the Integrated Logistics Limited (INTELS) has advised the management of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL) to stop tarnishing its hard-earned reputation by engaging in propaganda.

    LADOL allegedly accused INTELS of being behind the recent presidential directive to relocate its fabrication project for the Total’s Egina floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to Bayelsa State from its Free Trade Zone in Lagos.

    The Managing Director, LADOL Integrated Logistics Enterprise, Dr Amy Jadesmii, told reporters in Lagos a letter from the Presidency directed that the project be relocated to Agge in Bayelsa State or any designated oil and gas terminal located in ports in Onne (Rivers State) , Warri (Delta State) and Calabar (Cross River State).

    But the management of INTELS (Onne port) during a tour of the facility by maritime correspondents urged LADOL to focus on its core area of business of managing its private jetty in line with extant laws and regulations instead of preoccupying itself with propaganda aimed at “undermining INTELS’ multi-billion dollar investments over the years built to serve Nigeria and the West African sub-region”.

    INTELS management said: “While acknowledging the legitimate aspiration of LADOL to expand its business beyond private jetty, it will be counter-productive for it to predicate its business expansion on damaging the corporate reputation of INTELS built over decades of hard work and investments.

    “Onne Free Trade Zone is one of the several concessions under our control and our core business is markedly different from that of LADOL and other concessionaires as approved by the Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

    “As a concessionaire for Onne, Calabar and Warri ports, we handle exclusively ocean going vessels dedicated to oil and gas cargoes in line with the terms of our concession and the regulations of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). We do not handle rice, cement or sundry cargoes,” the General Manager, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Mike Epelle said.

    Sources in the maritime sector also said that LADOL had in its quest to expand its scope of business, applied for permission through the NPA for integration of Egina deepwater FPSO at their private jetty but that the NPA Executive Committee after thoroughly examining the application technically and operationally said it is not possible for it to handle such operations at the jetty, which was duly communicated to LADOL. The NPA investigations showed that the width and draft of the Lagos channel cannot accommodate the facility (FPSO) because of limited room for safe maneuvering as the average depth and channels are 9.5 and 210 metres respectively, while the turning basin radius is less than the 600 metres required by global practice, which is the minimum radius for turning basin for FPSO.

    LADOL was informed that in view of the high traffic of vessels in the channel, the integration and movement of FPSO being towed by more than five tugs could lead to a blockade of the channel for weeks or months in the event of any accident during navigation in the channel.

    The sources stated that LADOL had approached directly the Ministry of Transport with a similar application which was also turned down. “But with no intent of giving up on the bid to expand the scope of its operations, LADOL resorted to engage directly with the Presidency. In a letter to the President, LADOL requested the approval for the handling of the FPSO at its facilities or in the alternative to be allowed to handle it or part of its operations at Agge Bayelsa State. The proposal requesting the President to approve the handling of the FPSO at its facilities at Agge is a clear indication that the company was interested in building such facility in Bayelsa,” the sources added.

    After due consultation with the relevant authorities, the Presidency responded and directed that the operation based on technical/operational reasons as adduced by NPA, Federal Ministry of Transport, and Office of the Security Adviser to the President, the FPSO can be handled by LADOL at Agge Bayelsa if such facility area is available or in the alternative be appropriately handled at the designated oil and gas cargo terminals fully equipped with facilities to handle such operations. The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) in 2013 protested to the Presidency against approval that seeks to grant permission to LADOL to handle the integration of the FPSO at its facilities located in Lagos, even as further correspondence from LADOL to the Presidency on the same subject and referred to the Minister of Transport, did not receive approval, the sources said.

    The Minister of Transport had recommended the FPSO integration be handled at Onne having the capacity to accommodate such a project and as spelt out in the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in a letter of 2008, to concessionaires.

    To realise the full benefits and potential of the concessions, the House of Representatives in 2012 recommended that there is urgent need to enforce the ban on mid-stream discharge of cargoes as well as use of private jetties to discharge and load import and export cargo; that all oil & gas related cargoes are to be discharged only at appropriate designated terminals; that government should introduce incentives to the Eastern ports to make them more attractive to shipping companies, cargo owners thereby decongesting and reducing pressure to Western Ports; and that operators should be free to choose ports of discharging their cargoes within the designated ports of Onne, Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri, among others, the sources added.

    INTELS management appealed to the operators of the LADOL jetty to focus on finding solutions to their own problem because the issues are clearly matters that impinge on technical and security matters which are not under the control of the company.

  • Govt pledges support for FTZs

    Govt pledges support for FTZs

    The Federal govern
    ment will continue to
    support Free Trade Zones (FTZs) operations in order to maximise job creation potentials, facilitate trade and attract foreign direct investments (FDI), the Minister of Tradeand Investments, Dr Olusegun Aganga has said

    Aganga who spoke during a tour of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base in Apapa over the weekend, said the development became imperative to improve the growth of the economy.

    He said operators of the FTZs were not satisfied with the level of government patronage, hence the need to fully implement the laws guiding the  operations of the zones to  further promote economic growth.

    He said: “Operations of Free Zones in Nigeria are guided by the NEPZA Act as well as the Nigerian Content Act 2010. The NEPZA Act setting them up has already guaranteed them all the necessary governments’ encouragements to make them operate optimally.

    “The whole idea is to be able to attract investors to these one-stop-shops and create jobs. So what we need to do as government is to make sure that all those things in paper are fully implemented.”

    Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi lauded the continued encouragement and supports being offered by government in sustaining the free zones.

    such as LADOL have been made manifest through Industrial Revival Plans embarked upon by government.

    “We thank the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, for the enabling environment he has created so far and the encouragement provided for indigenous Nigerians through the Industrial Revival Plan.

    “We at LADOL have pledged to continue to do our part to help make that plan a reality, through our continued investment in building critical and strategically important infrastructure” she said.

    According to her, the infrastructure development at LADOL had resulted in “multiplier  through the development of related industries such as steel manufacturing and engineering”.

    Expressing her belief in human capital development as a way of creating wealth, Dr. Jadesimi said such ventures “must go hand in hand with physical capital development – which is why we are pushing ahead to build our training school in LADOL, with the overall aim of filling the skills gap in high value industries, allowing products currently not manufactured in Africa to be built in Nigeria for the first time, by Nigerians in a Nigerian facility”.

    The LADOL boss had also drawn the attention of her guest to the need for government to create a level playing field that allows for free and fair access to the market to all investors and operators, particular indigenous investors, whom she said, had been excluded in the past.

    She urged the government to actively encourage the use of indigenous investors’ developed facilities, enforce the local content act to its fullest, and encourage collaboration amongst private infrastructure.

  • Whose content?

    Whose content?

    • The local content law gets its litmus test between Samsung and local firm LADOL

    NO nation’s economy can beat its chest if it brandishes high numbers but lags behind in the most vital statistics: the welfare of its citizens. And no welfare metric impresses like the job profile. And one of the government policies that tend to ensure that we have jobs here is the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on April 22, 2010.

    The clamour for this law had rung up for more than a decade in the oil and gas industry because it is the main pie of Nigeria. Foreign firms had swarmed into the country and restricted job opportunities to their nationals. So we had the oil but they had the jobs, and it cost us not only the opportunity for our citizens to enjoy what they owned. It also foreclosed the possibility of allowing the interested locals from training and acquiring skills that would open access to lucrative jobs.

    The law is about to be tested in the courts with a Nigerian firm, Lagos Offshore Logistics, that has sued a South Korean firm and shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries. What is at stake is not whether it is good business for LADOL or bad business for Samsung. We want it to be good law for Nigerians. It is a good law for Nigerians if Nigerians enjoy the benefits.

    But according to news reports, Samsung secured a $3.1 billion contract to construct a floating production storage offshore vessel for the highly valued, multi-billion dollar Engina deepwater oil field development that generates an output of 200,000 barrels of crude oil a day. The South Korean company could not have secured it without partnering with a local company because of the 2010 local content law. That was when LADOL came into the picture after Samsung visited its facilities in Takwa Bay in Lagos in 2010.

    Both companies allegedly worked together to batten down agreements, including a memorandum of agreements. The agreement also compelled big investment from Samsung to the tune of $214 million, and LADOL also had to fulfill its own obligations in the contract.

    It seemed all was well with both sides in their relationships between 2010 and 2013 when they presented their proposal to the Nigerian authorities, including the minister of petroleum, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Ports Authority. But once the deal was done, Samsung allegedly dumped its Nigerian partner and decided to relocate the site for its fabrication and integration in South Korea. This makes mincemeat of the Nigerian law and deprives Nigerians of tens of thousands of jobs.

    It must be noted that work had begun at the LADOL site prior to the approval by the Nigerian authorities. This was abruptly abandoned. We sniff a Machiavellian cynicism in the Samsung move and a disregard to local concern, which is supposed to be priority in any country that comes to Nigeria to do business.

    The concept of the Engina oil field is to make it the biggest in West Africa and to operate as the central hub of the sub region. This is a matter that does not only have a nationalist flavour. It is a matter of justice and fair play.

    The significance of this story also lies in the fact that it is a guinea pig tussle. It will show the way for how local firms and their foreign partners will do business. Eventually it will demonstrate whether the law gives more jobs to Nigerians, train them and bolster Nigeria’s claim to its own patrimony: oil. So, it is a tussle for Nigerian content.