Loss of N30.3bn capital outflow: House summons Dakuku, Wabote over alleged breach of Local Content Act

The House of Representatives on Friday summoned the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dakuku Peterside and the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote over the award of over N30.32 billion contracts to a Dubai based company in breach of the Local Content Act.

Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Rep. Nkem Abonta, who issued the summons, said the chief executive of the two agencies were invited to explain their failure to act to stop this huge capital flight from the company allegedly carried out by Topaz Marine Dubai which executed contracts awarded by three oil multinationals in flagrant disobedience of the Local Content Act.

According to a petition before the committee, Topaz had through its activities in the country annually exported over $84, 240 million out of the country by executing contracts awarded by Total, Mobil and Chevron and which should have been executed by local firms without the two regulatory agencies ensuring compliance with the Local Content Act.

This action, Rep. Abonta explained has led to indigenous companies that have invested hugely in ship acquisition being denied the opportunity to bid for contracts while a foreign firm in conjunction with sister companies, all based in Dubai bided and won contracts from the multinational oil firms in breach of the Local Content Act.

The breach came to light based on a petition submitted to the committee by the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) on the gross abuse of the Nigerian Content Act by Topaz Dubai and Team Offshore Nigeria Limited dated August 15, 2018.

CLO Chairman, South-South Zone, Karl Chinedu Uchegbu had in the petition to the House committee alleged that Topaz Marine Dubai which came to Nigeria in 2012 exploited loopholes it discovered to circumvent the Local Content Act to do business in the offshore support services segment of the oil and gas sector.

Uchegbe alleged that the Dubai firm shortchanged indigenous companies on account of their access to low-interest foreign loans from its home nation where its majority shareholder, The Renaissance Group is quoted on the stock exchange.

He added that in order to evade complying with Section 3 (2) of the Nigerian Content Act, Topaz Dubai suspiciously incorporated Team Offshore Nigeria Limited, as a supposedly local entity with members of a law firm as proxy directors who have little or no holding in the company.

“They also proceeded to suspend the flags of over 13 vessels in their fleet, mostly Platform Support Vessels and anchor handlers.

“These vessels are illegally flying Nigerian flags while they are owned 100 per cent by Top Dubai and sister companies without a single percentage of ownership allocated to Nigerians.

“Topaz by this is denying indigenous companies that have borrowed from banks at exorbitant interest rates to buy vessels for the jobs required to repay their loan facilities, thereby frustrating the intentions of the Local Content Act and engaging in the exportation of capital out of Nigeria,” the petitioner stated.