Local content: Probe LADOL’s Nigerian ownership claim, group tells Buhari
DAILY SUN
Nigerian Content Vanguard (NCV), a group committed to the implementation of the Federal Government local content, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the indigenous ownership claim of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) and to put the raging controversy over the ownership of the company to rest.
In a statement in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, convener of the group, Timothy Johnson, said with allegations over the ownership of the company, it had become imperative for President Buhari to deploy anti-corruption agencies to dig into the issue and ascertain the truth.
“It is not against any Nigerian law for any company to operate in Nigeria as a foreign firm because President Buhari has always clamoured foreign investments to create employment opportunities and boost Nigeria’s economy. But it is an abuse of the Nigerian local content law for a foreign company to lay claim to indigenous ownership just to take advantage of the huge opportunities meant for local entities in the oil and gas industry.
“The companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), stipulates clearly that when two foreign companies establish a company in Nigeria, the new entity is a foreign company. Is it true that Sable Offshore Investment Limited, registered in British Virgin Island, and Alsba Ventures, also registered in the British Virgin Island own 84 percent stake in LADOL? This allegation should be probed,” the group said.
It urged President Buhari to direct the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Corporate Affairs Commission and the anti-corruption agencies to ascertain if Sable Offshore Investment Limited, and Alsba Ventures are registered in tax havens and if the two companies actually own 84 percent stake in LADOL.
“Some companies operating in Nigeria have claimed Nigerian ownership to enjoy all the benefits that accrue to indigenous companies under the Nigerian Local Content Law.
But when it is time to pay tax, they ascribe ownership of their companies to other entities registered in tax havens to avoid payment of tax,” the group said.