There was a mild drama in the Senate Committee when the Executive Director of Training 7 at Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), Ali Uwais, bluntly told Senators and members of the joint committee investigating the multibillion-naira NLNG Train 7 project that there were no contract documents available to assist in the investigation.
The joint Committee on Gas of the Senate and House of Representatives conducting the investigation had no other option than to suspend the investigation till documents were made available by NLNG and SAIPEM Contracting Nig. Ltd.
The provoked members therefore told the NLNG team and others to return on June 13 with documents to substantiate the contract and the figures, warning that failure to do that, the necessary sections guiding their activities will be invoked.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, who did not hide his total dismay that the NLNG and the contractor could boldly refuse to supply the document the committee requested, disclosed that the committee had requested that information be provided on the contract agreement signed between SAIPEM and NLNG as well as any variations requested and subsequently granted on the cost of the project.
The joint Committee later adjourned deliberations on the matter till Wednesday, June 13th, 2024.
It charged NLNG and the contractors to submit the documents no later than Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Responding to the request, the contractor said “the disclosure of the contract agreement as well as details of any variation request in respect of the NLNG Project is not within their sole discretion as the contract specifically contains confidentiality provisions that forbid the disclosure of its contents and other project information to the authorities without NLNG’s express written consent
In a letter signed by TaeWon Jung, the managing director of Daewoo E&C which is one of the contractors, it was categorically spelled out that providing the committee with any document is not binding, adding, “Given the above, considering the provisions of Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution, which regulates terms and conditions according to which the National Assembly exercises its powers, we will appreciate your obliging us of the gazetted copy of such resolution or as published in the National Assembly’s journal as prescribed by law.”
In his own submission, Uwais said “the investigative power of the National Assembly is not at large, but it is circumscribed as recognized and endorsed by the courts.”
FRCN
