Connected Development (CODE) in collaboration with the Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) on Tuesday submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on alleged corrupt practices by some foreign contractors.

Mr Hamzat Lawal, Chief Executive, CODE and Mr Moses Siasia, Chairman, NYPF in Abuja on Tuesday, jointly signed and submitted the petition.

They are requesting for presidential inquisition into the engineering, procurement and construction of the Total Egina Floating Production Storage Offloading (EFPSO), to EFCC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petition was requesting the EFCC to investigate the alleged corrupt practices by Samsung Heavy Indistries (SHI), the contractor involved in the matter.

NAN also reports that the CSOs had recently expressed worry over the preference of foreign companies to local ones in the awards of contract, especially in the oil and gas sector.

They were of the view that the continuous preference for foreign companies was instigating corruption and undermining local content laws.

They also said the development had caused an increase in youth unemployment, which had also led to capital flight with thousands of jobs being created for foreigners with Nigerian resources.

Lawal told NAN that there was need for urgent investigation and prosecution of those that are involved to avoid future re-occurrence.

He said the EFPSO facility by Samsung heavy industries for deployment in the Egina deep water oil field was meant to birth a new phase in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

He added that this was not the first FSPO in Nigeria as there existed a total of about 14 FPSO’s built by foreign yards, saying the EFPSO is the largest in Nigeria and the first to be fabricated.

He said the economic benefit of this within the Nigeria’s shores would have been significant, including local capacity development and job creation through deepening of all participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry.

He alleged that over the years the SHI engineering, procurement and construction of the EFPSO had massively defrauded Nigerian Commonwealth, undermine the extant laws and signal corporate corruption of monumental proportions.

He said that some of the companies were engaging in the act of bypassing due process and disregarding national interest for their corporate gains thereby sabotaging the nation’s economy.

“Few weeks ago, we addressed a news conference to tell the world that the oil and gas sector is experiencing a high level of corruption where 3.8million dollars have not been given to its expectation, particularly to employ millions of Nigerians both male and female.

“We believe the only agency that can convey this message is the EFCC as this is an economy crime against the young people in Nigeria.

“We are therefore using this medium to call on the Chairman of EFCC to help avert the situation so that Nigerian government can give contracts to Nigerian professionals,” he said.

He also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the implementation of the local content law already signed into law by him.

He noted that the implementation would encourage young professionals in the country to benefit from the local content law when contracts were being signed with multi nationals in the oil and gas sector.

Also, Siasia, the Chairman, NYPF said a lot of Nigerians trained and knowledgeable in this sector had been deprived from the process because local content jobs were done in South Korea thereby creating jobs for Koreans.

“We cannot fold our hands and see all these things and still keep quite.

“What we are saying is that the local content law and principle that was applied in terms of contract agreement was not duly followed.”

He, therefore, urged the EFCC chairman to do justice so that SHI that was awarded the contract to settle all irregularities concerning local content law. (NAN)

– Aug. 28, 2018 @ 15:55 GMT |