As a result of moves by the National Assembly to amend the Act establishing the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company (NLNG), a group of stakeholders under the aegis of Bonny Graduates Forum(BGF) has said the Bonny community and the Niger Delta may lose commitment worth N60 billion promised by the company.
In a chat with newsmen in Lagos yesterday, the spokesperson of the group, Cyril Hart said if the Act is amended without following proper procedures, it may not be possible to have the Train 7 and 8 projects. Cyril who said the Federal Government is far from the community said NLNG is the only corporate entity close to them.
In his words, “If you tamper with that Act, without following due procedures, then kiss goodbye to Trains 7 and 8 project which will affect the Niger Delta because virtually all the youths there will work on those projects.
“Before now, all platforms created have neglected to speak for Bonny. The Federal Government is very far from us, only the NLNG is close to us,” he said.
Speaking further, he said the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has not lived up to its responsibilities of making life better for the people of the community.
He said, “Over $40 billion has come into the NDDC but what we have on ground is nothing close to that huge amount.
“There is no footprint of the NDDC in Bonny. Bonny is the only community not accessible by road. Therefore, NLNG has made a commitment of N60 billion to make road accessible in the community,” he stated.
When asked if the NDDC is working with the National Assembly to ensure the Act is passed, he said, “we believe the National Assembly is credible. What we are seeing is legislative engineering or what is called backdoor arrangement.
“God forbids that the bill is passed because I don’t know how we are going to cope as a country.
“Why would you want to throw away $25 billion investment? A company that has almost the nation’s foreign reserve is not supposed to be treated this way”, he said.
According to him, NLNG has built a vocational centre to train the youths of the community and has also promised to give the Bonny kingdom N3 billion annually for 25 years.
He however promised his group’s support to NLNG stating that there is no basis of comparison between the company and NDDC.
He said, “Bonny graduates are happy the executive arm of the Federal Government is fully conscious and aware that there are major consequences for reneging promises and are fully behind Nigeria LNG.
“Nigeria LNG is clearly the best company in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility and community development. There is no basis of comparison between their activities and that of the NDDC,” he added.