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The chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has urged the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, to prudently allocate $43 million from the $4.3 billion Train-7 project for human capital development projects.
Apoti-Uduaghan charged NLNG to ensure compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, NOGICD, Act, adding that it represents one per cent of the total project value designated for human capacity development and institutional strengthening.
She made this call during a meeting at the National Assembly with representatives from NLNG, NCDMB, Saipem Contracting Limited, and Daewoo Engineering and Construction, on Tuesday.
According to a statement signed by Arogbonlo Israel, her Chief Press Secretary, Akpoti-Uduaghan, stressed the importance of transparency and effective utilisation of these funds to benefit Nigerians and enhance the country’s human capacity development and institutional strengthening.
She said: “Learning institutions, from public primary to tertiary institutions nationwide, should benefit from the $25.8 million, which is 60 per cent of the $43 million worth of HCD projects owed Nigerians.”
The lawmaker also emphasised the infrastructure deficit in Nigeria’s primary and secondary schools in the UBEC report, which states that about 40,000 classrooms are in deplorable condition.
“It would do well if NLNG’s HCD schemes can support UBEC in their quest to provide befitting educational facilities,” she advised.
She addressed discrepancies in reported figures for the NLNG Train-7 project, highlighting that if the project is valued at $6.5 billion, the human capacity framework would allocate $39 million for institutional strengthening, $13 million for advanced-level training, and $13 million for auxiliary training, totalling $65 million.
“If the project is worth $10 billion, the allocation would be $60 million for institutional strengthening and $20 million each for training, totalling $100 million worth of projects across the country,” she said.
The Kogi lawmaker explained that for projects in the oil and gas sector worth over $500 million, one per cent of the project value is allocated to human capacity development and institutional strengthening.
The committee is expected to collaborate with NLNG and NCDMB to establish a framework and select public institutions across the country that will benefit from the strategic programme, aimed at enhancing learning institutions’ capacity.
The effective utilisation of these funds will positively impact the country’s human capacity development and institutional strengthening and will help address the issue of out-of-school children and improve learning structures in public institutions.
