Train 7 gas project: We’ll sanction erring expatriates – FG

The federal government on Friday warned that it would sanction expatriates that failed to open operational bases in Bonny Island, Rivers state, for the Train 7 Gas Project.

The executive secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote, gave the warning at the formal opening of The Promise Fast Food and Restaurant in Bonny, Rivers state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Train 7 Project is a joint venture consortium that seeks to boost Nigeria’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) output to 30 million tons per annum (mtpa) from 22 million mtpa.

Nigeria’s LNG, Italy’s Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation and South Korea’s Daewoo had raised an estimated $6 billion to expand the country’s LNG to Train 7.

But Wabote said some of the sub-contractors participating in the Train 7 Project had refused to open their offices in Bonny, thereby, denying the youth jobs.

“So, as we prepare to usher in the Train 7 Project, there are a lot of companies that have business in Bonny that do not have offices in Bonny.

“We have built NLNG Train 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and when you ask those companies about their office location, you will discover that the majority of them are not in Bonny.

“Rather, they prefer to operate from Italy and Dubai while importing items into Bonny Island. Whenever NCDMB resist such attempts, the contractors go on a blackmail spree,” he said.

Wabote said the federal government was now fully prepared to deal with the expatriates over their unfriendly and exploitative business practices in the nation’s gas project.

“The blackmail tactics are particularly done by some unscrupulous Italian contractors, who think that the only way to participate in the Train 7 Project is to blackmail NCDMB.

“But be assured that as long as I remain the executive secretary of NDCMB, we will checkmate them (contractors) this time around when Train 7 is coming.

“We will continue to push for the establishment of more operational bases of all the companies that are coming to participate in the Train 7 Project in Bonny.”

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