The Committee for the Defence of
National Interests (CODNI), has raised alarm over an alleged secret moves by
the National Assembly (NAS) to hurriedly amend Act establishing the Nigeria Liquified
Natural Gas (NLNG) before the end of this week, reports ITRealms.
The National
Coordinator, CODNI, a non-governmental organization, Mr. Zach Ezoh made available
to ITRealms on Wednesday, the group said in the
statement that information at its disposal indicated that the Federal lawmakers
have advanced plans to swiftly amend the NLNG Act possibly on Thursday so as to
pave the way for the sale of the Federal Government’s shares in the NLNG.
“We wish to alert the general public
about this invidious plot and to call on patriotic members of the National Assembly
to rise to the occasion and prevent this looming economic catastrophe as it
will further compound the country’s woes,” Ezoh said.
The group also cautioned the
lawmakers not to tamper with the NLNG Act, describing such as a miscalculation
which would effectively kill the goose that lays the golden egg for the
country’s economy.
“We wish to appeal to the conscience
of our lawmakers not to allow this economic tragedy to befall our dear nation.
It is said that you do not change a winning strategy. The NLNG as it presently
is has proved to be a roaring success. There is, therefore, no cogent reason to
tamper with the Act establishing this national cash cow,” the statement said.
The NGO pointed that NLNG, which was incorporated after
over 30 years of unsuccessful efforts by successive Nigerian administrations to
attract foreign investors in the LNG sector, has been an outstanding success.
“From the initial investment of
US$6.0 billion at its incorporation on May 17, 1989, the NLNG now has an asset
base of over $11 billion, generated over $90 billion in revenues and has
contributed over US$15 billion to the Nigerian government in dividends over the
last 12 years,” CODNI noted.
It further noted that the company
has also paid a total of over US$5.5billion in taxes comprising Companies
Income Tax, Tertiary Education Tax, WHT, VAT and other payments to Government
including PAYE, state and local government taxes, as well as regulators’ levies
and fees totalling over N51 billion.
CODNI pointed out that the NLNG Act,
which has been ratified by the Nigerian Constitution as an Act of the National
Assembly, has as its basis, a contract between the Federal Government of
Nigeria and the Shareholders of Nigeria LNG Limited (“NLNG”). The group noted
that this contract includes Incentives, Concessions, Guarantees and Assurances
which were provided for and also reaffirmed in Letters of Assurance to lenders
for the Nigeria LNG Trains 4 and 5 expansion by the then Minister of Finance,
Minister of Justice and Attorneys-General of the Federation and the Central
Bank Governor.
“The main thrust of the Guarantees
and Assurances were to assure the foreign Investors that their investments
would be protected by the non-amendment of the NLNG Act. It is instructive to
note that the Act has been protected by all administrations from inception, in
recognition of the sanctity thereof,” CODNI said.
It reminded the lawmakers that
NLNG’s shareholders have treaty protection under Bilateral Investment Treaties
(“BITs”) entered into by Nigeria with France, The Netherlands and the United
Kingdom.
“To amend or change the NLNG Act
would portray Nigeria as a promise-breaker and untrustworthy, damaging the
country’s reputation and hamstringing its ability to attract foreign
investment. It could also mean an immediate loss of foreign investment of US$25
billion in respect of Train 7 investment (USD$15 billion by the upstream and
USD$10 billion for construction).
“In addition, any amendment could
result in loss of income of between US$53m – US$124m being amount attributable
to the Nigerian Government in form of dividends, and related Withholding tax.
Further immediate impact would also be the potential loss of about 18,000 jobs
required for the construction activities for Train 7,” the group said.
Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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