Corruption, Nigeria’s major problem discourages foreign investment —Akpabio

 Corruption, Nigeria’s major problem discourages foreign investment —Akpabio

By Modupe Shodeinde

The Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Godswill Akpabio, says the major problem that discourage international oil companies from remitting to fund due to host communities is corruption.

Akpabio said this while speaking on Monday at a town hall meeting on the protection of oil and gas infrastructure in the country, in Abuja.

He said “The IOCs must have been discouraged by the way the funds made available were used by NDDC. You cannot point to any substantial development in any of the nine states, in spite of the money that has so far gone into the NDDC,”

He explained that corruption has been a major problem in Nigeria since 1960 when the British drew a report after the first prime minister took over from the colonial masters.

“With corruption, no matter the amount we put for the oil communities, we might end up with communal clashes.” He said.

The minister also said the IOCs owe the Niger Delta about $4.2 billion.

“When NDDC came on board, the IOCs collectively owed the NDDC remittance of about $4.2 billion,” Akpabio said.

“It is not only the IOCs alone, because some of the contracts are JVCs [joint venture contracts]. The JVCs are part of these impediments, because NAPIMS [National Petroleum Investment Management Services] or so must collaborate with the IOCs before some of those releases are made.

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“We implore members of the national assembly to look into this, because I noticed that there are no sanctions for non-payment of the three percent.

“So, it means everyone of you have to go cap-in-hand, begging the oil communities to pay their percentage as a result of their lackadaisical attitude. So, the region has not been able to get the required funds.

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