Senate orders immediate deportation of Samsung MD

THE Senate has ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to deport the Managing Director of Samsung, Mr Young Ho Jo back to South Korea for allegedly coming into the country without proper documentation.

The Senate gave the directive for Samsung MD’s deportation on Thursday by its Chairman on Ad- hoc Committee probing the $16.35billion Egina Oil Field Project, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) during an interactive session with major and sub contractors of the project.

Senator Adeola added that the resolution for deportation of the Samsung MD was adopted by the Senate last week Thursday in line with recommendation to that effect by the ad- hoc committee in its interim report.

Adeola, who made the announcement to the hearing of the embattled South Korean and other operators of the Egina oil field project, revealed that illegality of Young Ho Jo residency in Nigeria came to the fore during scrutiny of his papers.

The Senator said : “Mr Young Ho Jo who has been working for the past two months in Nigeria as the managing director of Samsung without fulfilling legal requirements for such told us that he couldn’t complete his documentation as a result of alleged brake down of machines of the Nigeria Content Development Monitoring Board (NCMDB).

“But the NCMBD wrote to us that their machine had never broken down in the period claimed, showing that the man has contravened the Local Content law. Going by recommendations made by this committee to the Senate and resolution adopted, Samsung MD is no longer recognised on account of improper documentation as shown by papers he presented.

“To the Senate and this committee, Samsung MD is an illegal immigrant who must be deported by the Nigerian Immigration Service , to which a letter to that effect has been forwarded to the Ministry of Interior. He can however come back to the country through proper documentation thereafter”.

The committee chairman further disclosed that Young Ho Jo, during his illegal residency in Nigeria as Samsung MD, also violated the Local Content Act by spending $1.6bn out of the $3.5bn contract, Samsung got from $16.35bn Egina Oil Field Project in Goje , South Korea.

But Mr Nicolas Terraz, the managing director of Total Upstream Nigeria Limited stated that as the major operator of the project, it will continue to assist the committee in its investigations.

He added that its goal is to deliver the project expected to produce 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day while its FPSO have a holding capacity of 2 million barrel.

In his own comment, the NNPC representative, Eng. Gbolahan Okesanya, stated that the Senate’s decision to probe local content, cost variations of Total Egina oil field December 6, 2017 and if Nigeria can attract Total’s $16bn investment, showed that the country is moving in the right direction