$2.6bn AKK pipeline project: Reps query NNPC, contractors, summon BPP
On
…frown at use of Chinese coy over Nigerian firm
…as firm vows to petition Buhari
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
House of Representatives Tuesday queried the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC over the alleged exclusion of Bablinks Resource Ltd, a Nigerian firm in the construction contract of the 40’’× 318.6km BVS12 Kaduna-Kano section or Segment 2 of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano.
Acting on a petition by Local Content Advocacy and Management Group, alleging that contractors in the consortium the bid for the project had been changed by the authorities, the House Committee on Local Content which met with some contractors over the matter said it was interested in the implementation of the local contents in the project.
The House Committee on Local Content interrogated some of the parties in the construction contract in Abuja on Tuesday, querying why the Nigerian contractors in the project were swapped for Chinese after the project had been approved by the Federal Executive Council.
House of Representatives has begun investigation of the alleged breach of Nigeria’s laws on local content in the execution of the Federal Government project to construct a gas pipeline from Ajaokuta to Kano.
By Emmanuel Addeh and Adedayo Akinwale
The increase in the pump price of petrol has become imminent as Brent crude oil, against which Nigeria’s oil is benchmarked, was up $1.10, or 1.7 per cent, closing at $66.34 a barrel yesterday.
It had earlier hit a high of $66.79 mainly prompted by optimism over the COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and lower output.
The gains by the commodity, whose sales supply a large percentage of Nigeria’s foreign exchange has continued even as the country awaits the outcome of the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors over the pricing of petrol tomorrow.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the sole importer of the product, had last week assured the nation that there would be no increase in February until negotiations with labour were concluded.