By Ejekwu Chidiebere
- Highlights actions to address Sterling Oil’s non-compliance issues
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said it noted with satisfaction the comments made by the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Mr. Festus Osifo, during the union’s recent protest at the headquarters of Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO), at Victoria Island, Lagos, over alleged anti-labour practices and expatriate abuses by the company.
It applauded the leadership of PENGASSAN for acknowledging that qualified Nigerian personnel are occupying top leadership and technical positions in most international and indigenous operating oil and gas companies, and are performing creditably in those roles.
While attributing this feat to its strategic implementation and enforcement of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, the Expatriate Quota, Succession Plan and Deployment of Expatriates Guidelines and Expatriate Work Temporary Work Permit Guidelines in particular, said the Nigerian workforce now carry out complex technical functions in so many areas including the floating production and storage and offloading (FPSO) platforms like Bonga, Agbami, USAN, AKPO, Egina, among others. “Indeed, the Nigerian oil and gas workers performed almost all operations in the oil and gas industry during the COVID-19 pandemic and kept the industry afloat, after most expatriates returned to their home countries”, the Board said in a twit.
The successes it added could also be attributed to several other Nigerian Content capacity building interventions that prepared and placed qualified Nigerians in key positions in the oil and gas industry. “Through enforcement and compliance oversight, the Board ensured that 609 technical positions were nigerianised for the period 2020-2024”.
“We are delighted that PENGASSAN served as a whistle blower over the alleged expatriate quota abuse by the management of Sterling Oil, and we assure the union and the general public that we would investigate the matter exhaustively and take necessary actions”.
Recalling that a few years ago, it (Board) sanctioned SEEPCO for gross violations of the NOGICD Act. And “recently, we have been engaging the company for the same reasons”, the Board said. This is while outlining their regulatory engagements with the firm to among others include, identifying, in 2017 that five expatriates at SEEPCO were deployed without obtaining the relevant NCDMB approvals, which also attracted a penalty, for non-compliance to the rules of engagement. And to remediate this, SEEPCO trained five Nigerians in Marine Engineering and Subsurface Drilling Engineering for nine months.
In 2018, NCDMB said it also identified 402 expatriates deployed by SEEPCO without approval. The Board said it also discovered projects, contracts, and purchase orders from multiple projects that were awarded and executed without appropriate approvals, and once again it (NCDMB) visited SEEPCO with another sledge hammer for the infractions, directing it (SEEPCO) and its affiliates to take the following actions:
• Disengage the 402 expatriates and provide evidence of their disengagement and exit to the Board.
• Commence and comply with the NCDMB Expatriate Quota application process.
• Comply with the Board’s requirements for tendering and awarding projects, contracts, and purchase orders.
• Complete the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) reconciliation exercise and pay outstanding remittances.
• Submit up-to-date statutory reports on Nigerian Content and comply with the review process.
• Train and employ 40 Nigerians as part of the remediation/penalty. However and regrettably too, SEEPCO ignored those directives, prompting the Board’s legal proceedings against them, in line with section 68 of the NOGICD Act, NCDMB said.