Nigerian Senate Investigates Oil Contracts to Check Money FlightThe Nigerian Senate has begun investigating award of contracts by multinational oil giants operating in Nigeria in order to halt the flight of more than 10 billion US dollars in the oil sector, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Sunday in the capital Abuja.The probe was motivated by a protest of some local contractors, who claimed that the multinational oil companies were offering contracts worth 10 billion dollars on some oil fields in Nigeria to foreign firms at the expense of the indigenous companies, a senate statement was quoted as saying. The investigation was also promoted by the Shell award of an oil-processing contract for Nigeria to a British firm for about 420 million dollars, which will create jobs for more than 4,000 British engineers, while it could originally have provided jobs for at least 40,000 Nigerians, the statement said. Oil companies linked with the contract deals also include Mobil, Elf, Chevron and Texaco, which currently have branches operating in the oil-rich country. The ad-hoc investigation committee of the lawmakers headed by Senate Vice President Ibrahim Mantu is to check the trend in the award of such service contracts in the oil and gas sector, and exclusion of competent indigenous oil companies, the statement disclosed. During its probe, the committee was mandated to invite Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Jackson Gauis-Obaseki and the chief executives of the affected companies to facilitate its work, it added. Although Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and the world sixth largest exporter, about 70 million Nigerians, who account for 60 percent of the country's population of 120 million, are absolutely poor and about 70 percent of Nigerian youths are jobless. |
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