The
Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has waded into the
dispute between the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and a Nigerian
company, Macobarb International.
It
was gathered that the N970 million contractual dispute is being mediated by the
NCDMB as reconciliatory meetings have been held at NCDMB’s headquarters in
Yenagoa.
Macobarb
wants to be paid about N970m by the NLNG for what it termed wrongful
termination of a contract and value for downtime and equipment on site over
some period of time.
Several
organizations have made unsuccessful efforts to mediate in the dispute
including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Office of
Attorney-General of the Federation amongst others..
Competent
sources at NCDMB said the board got the complaint in October 2019 and invited
both parties and the first sitting was held about December 10, 2019 in Yenagoa
head office of the board.
A
senior official of the board, Alexis Emele, chaired the reconciliation meeting.
The
source who participated in the talks said Macobarb asked for what it calls
‘Standing Time Amount’ when the NLNG kept the company’s equipment and key
personnel doing nothing on offshore contract for 559 days.
The
Nigerian company said it calculated the claim with contract standing time rates
to get N958m plus outstanding balance on turnstile and vehicle barrier Macobarb
supplied the NLNG as part of the contract, all totaling N970m.
Macobarb
has complained to numerous organizations that it had been rated as a top
performer in contracts with the NLNG until it was upgraded and awarded a
Turnstile and Security contract in 2014.
The
company said the contract’s biggest term was that there would be no
mobilization fee paid to Macobarb but that every milestone achieved and
approved would be paid for, failing which the defaulter would pay penalty.
The
CEO of Macobarb, Shedrack Ogboru, said that when it was time to pay the first
batch, after all due technical approvals, one man in NLNG stopped payment
without offering any reason.
He
said this ugly and unwarranted development affected the job so badly that
performance was impossible.
He
said he had taken loans from a bank to execute the early stages of the
contract, only for payment to be stalled.
He
regretted that the NLNG only turned round to terminate the contract, leading to
protracted dispute.
The
NLNG Management led by Mr Tony Attah had in a reaction said that the contract
was terminated due to non-performance.
At
the NCDMB brokered talks, the NLNG was said to have insisted that it terminated
the contract on grounds of non-performance and paid the contractor the value of
work done.
Macobarb
was said to have rejected this, saying terms of the contract were grossly
violated by pushing the company into non-performance through non-payment of
milestones achieved.
It
was gathered that both sides tabled their positions and that the NCDMB asked
them to report back on a date early in January 2020.
The
NLNG was said to have disputed figures tabled by Macobarb but the mediators asked Macobarb to furnish the Board the
information itemizing all outstanding claims being allegedly owed by NLNG on
the contract.
The
Board was said to have also asked the NLNG to revert with information concerning the status of
payments on demobilization for the contract and the 20ft container kept in
their place by the contractor as part of the contract terms.
Macobarb
expressed optimism that the matter to be resolved by the NCDMB instead of resort
to court so that other Nigerian companies affected in the contract can heave a
sigh of relief.
The
matter had dragged on but the Nigerian company said it was being constrained to
go to court with a consortium of multinationals that would use its financial
muscle to crush it in court.
Macobarb’s plea, however,
is for the NCDMB to compel the NLNG to pay them the sum of N969.920m and to
lift the "blacklisting" or the sanction of Macobarb from rendering
services to NLNG.
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