Finima community pickets NLNG Train 7 contractors

Ilenre Irele

The people of Finima community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State have closed down the operations of Saipem, Chiyoda, and Daewoo, SCD JV, the EPC contractor working on ongoing construction of NLNG Train-7 project.

The community which is a host to the Nigeria LNG Limited and all its gas plants, is asking SCD JV to implement the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, NOGICD Act 2010 and the Community Content Guideline, CCG 2017, of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB.

Under the section 4 (2) of NCDMB’s CCG, all unskilled job roles, 50percent of semi-skilled roles and 20percent of skilled job roles, are exclusively reserved for indigenes of communities where an oil and gas project is domiciled.

Also, the CCG stipulates at least 30percent of procurement opportunities to be reserved for entrepreneurs from the host community and 30percent slots given to trainees from host communities in selection of candidates for project based trainings.

Leader of the protest and Chairman of Finima Youth Congress, FYC, Mr. Shedrack Brown, said the community wants SCD JV to display its list of vendors approved for the community, accusing the contracting firm of disregarding the community and flouting Nigerian laws.

Brown stated that the community had written several letters to the management of SCD JV to iron out contentious issues, but all efforts have been met with nonchalance, hence the reason for the protest.

He said, “The entirety of Finima community has come out to protest against neglect by the SCD JV, who for over a long time has decided not to have any dealings with Finima. You will recall that in 2021, there was the groundbreaking for the construction of the NLNG Train 7 project and NLNG in their wisdom brought the entirety of the team handling this project to Finima community for identification.

“But ever since that was done till date, they have refused to have any dealings with the Finima community, we have written several letters through the Finima Capacity Development Committee, the Finima Youth Congress, etc to see that they have engaged with the community. It is unfair and unjust that such construction will be going on in our community and they will not want to have any engagement with us.

“We had even petitioned the Commissioner of Police, who invited all parties and they still refused to honor the invitation. Most shockingly, the day we were to discuss the issues at stake, they tacitly evaded the meeting with flimsy excuses. So, we have no other option than to resort to self-help in the form of protest, aimed at ensuring they listen to us.

“Our request is for them to implement the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Development Act of 2010, and ensure that you comply with the NCDMB’s Community Content Guidelines of 2017.