Niger Delta traditional rulers slam NLNG for failure to pay statutory 3% of its annual budget to NDDC

Traditional rulers from across the Niger Delta under the auspices of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON), have lampooned the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), for refusing to meet its statutory obligation of the payment of three percent of its annual budget to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) thereby, short-changing the people of the region.

The House of Representatives on May 9, 2017, passed a bill seeking to ensure that the NLNG commenced the payment to the NDDC.

Reacting to the position of the NLNG that a section of its Act of 2004 gave it tax relief, the monarchs said in a press conference addressed by their national chairman, His Majesty, Eze Akuwueze R. Ikegwuruka, in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, that they were shocked that the company was still clinging to the section of the law which had since expired.

Eze Ikegwuruka said: “It is indeed, surprising that the NLNG is clinging to some sections of its Act of 2004 which has since expired to refuse to meet its statutory obligations to the NDDC. We consider it shameful for the NLNG to be campaigning against the best judgement of members of the National Assembly. They must come to terms with the fact that when the Niger Delta sneezes, the rest of the country catches cold.

“The NLNG as a gas processing company must be made to comply with Section 14 (1)(b) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act which stipulates that 3 per cent of the total annual budget of any oil producing company operating on-shore and off-shore in the Niger Delta including gas processing under which NLNG is supposed to be, goes to the NDDC,” he stated.

The TROMPCON national chairman said that while they acknowledged the fact that section 2 of the NLNG Act, gave NLNG a tax relief period, those fiscal incentives were very clear in terms of their duration, as they were purely for a period of 10 years.

He said that the NLNG had enjoyed those incentives for almost 18 years without paying levies because, according to him, the law said that the incentives commenced on the commencement of first operation, adding that it was common knowledge that the first train came into operation in September 1999.
Going further, Eze Ikegwuruka stated that the NDDC Act stipulated specific contributions to be made by the Federal Government as well as oil and gas companies to the Commission to enable it execute its statutory mandate.

“By the explicit provisions of section 14 (2) (b) of the NDDC Act, ‘gas processing companies’ operating in the region are amongst operators in the petroleum industry specifically required to pay to the NDDC Fund ‘three per cent’ of their annual budgets.

“Unfortunately, amongst many companies who default on this statutory obligation (some by not paying the full amounts) Nigeria LNG Ltd is the worst defaulter, as it has adamantly refused to pay its statutory contributions to NDDC since the establishment of the Commission sixteen years ago.

“Nigeria LNG Ltd is by far the leading operator in the gas industry and at the moment the only natural gas liquefaction (and allied operations) company in Nigeria. It has remained one of the biggest and most profitable industrial ventures in Africa, posting profits in the range or excess of N500billion annually soon after coming on stream in 1999,” he explained.

He stated that the essence of the NDDC Act as an interventionist agency was to bring some level of development to the Niger Delta where the gas resource was being processed, adding that NLNG actually gathered the gas from different parts of the Niger Delta.

“For us, the traditional rulers, it smacks of irresponsibility for the NLNG to be shirking its responsibility to the people of the region,” he said.

The monarchs commended members of the House of Representatives for taking a bold stand to correct what it described as the injustice of the past years, expressing confidence that the Senate would soon concur to put a seal on the bill.
The national chairman said that TROMPCON must also give credit to the Board and Management of the NDDC for spearheading the amendment and letting Nigerians know some of the pains which the people of the Niger Delta have endured for many years.

“Don’t forget that TROMPCON played a key role in the establishment of the NDDC, right from the days of the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), and, therefore, sees it as a duty to continue to show solidarity to the interventionist agency. Obviously, the challenges facing the NDDC are enormous and as such require the support of all stakeholders in the region.

“The Niger Delta is far too important a region, both in Nigeria, the West African sub-region and the Gulf of Guinea to be ignored or treated shabbily. We have duty to help the federal government and the NDDC to create the enabling environment for the execution of various development projects in the Niger Delta region,” he said.