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$2.6bn AKK pipeline project: Reps query NNPC, contractors, summon BPP
On
…frown at use of Chinese coy over Nigerian firm
…as firm vows to petition Buhari
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
House of Representatives Tuesday queried the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC over the alleged exclusion of Bablinks Resource Ltd, a Nigerian firm in the construction contract of the 40’’× 318.6km BVS12 Kaduna-Kano section or Segment 2 of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano.
Acting on a petition by Local Content Advocacy and Management Group, alleging that contractors in the consortium the bid for the project had been changed by the authorities, the House Committee on Local Content which met with some contractors over the matter said it was interested in the implementation of the local contents in the project.
NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Yusuf Usman, said, the contract was awarded to the Brentex/CPP Consortium which brought in Bablink Resource Ltd.
Usman, who represented NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, said all the terms of the contract complied with the Local Content Act as required.
Executive Vice Chairman, Brentex Nigeria Ltd, Sani Abubakar, said over 10,000 skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers were engaged for the project which had a 40 percent Chinese content as agreed.
He said there were only five Chinese engineers currently working with a plan to bring the number to 50 who would work in a team headed by a Nigerian.
The House Committee on Local Content interrogated some of the parties in the construction contract in Abuja on Tuesday, querying why the Nigerian contractors in the project were swapped for Chinese after the project had been approved by the Federal Executive Council.
More beneficiaries have continued to emerge under the Federal Government’s N75bn survival fund for small businesses, with Gombe and Rivers being the latest to acknowledge the scheme.
The Federal Government (FG) had extended registration for the payroll support scheme to enable some states meet their quotas.
The payroll support scheme is designed to assist vulnerable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by paying the salaries of their staff for a period of three months. The requirements needed for the application include: Business must have Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration; must have a bank verification number (BVN); must have staff strength of at least 10 persons and maximum of 50; and must be owned by a Nigerian.