Nigeria lost more than $5 billion to Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas
(OKLNG)and Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (BLNG) because of bureaucratic
bottlenecks, it was gathered at the weekend.Other factors include lack of proper planning and implementation.
Petroloeum and Natural Gas Senoir Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) former President, Mr Louis Brown Ogbeifun, told The Nation that the Federal Government conceptualised the projects in 2004 and gave them five years’completion date. He lamented that 15 years after, the projects were not yet completed.
Odiefum said: “Brass LNG gulped $3 billion and Olokola $2 billion. This is aside that foreign exchange has changed significantly in the last 15 years, when the projects were awarded to contractors.
“The money sunk into the projects has increased, when one factored the cost of forex and other things into it.”
Obiefun said the projects were meant to improve the earnings of the Federal Government, and the economy.
“One can imagine the huge amount of money the government has invested on the two projects. This money could as well have been spent on improving the conditions of millions of Nigerians, who are living below poverty level.”
The export earnings, Obiefun said, which the government was eyeing from the projects, was not realised either.
Other projects that suffered similar fate, he said, include the Gas Revolution Industrisl Park (GRIP) that was conceived and built by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Nigerian Liquefied and Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 7.
He said the inability of the Federal Government to get Final Investment Destinations (FIDs) delayed the take off of LNG Train 7 project.
“Earnings from Train 7 project alone is enough to transform the economy. But the reverse is the case, as the project is yet to take off,” he said.
He advised the Federal Government to monitor the operation of its parastatals, if it really wants a huge growth in the oil and gas sector.
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