- Tax is dropping fast due to tax non-compliance
By Ignatius Chukwu
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has raised alarm, saying indigenous oil operators have turned out to be serial violators.
The Executive Secretary (ES), Simbi Wabote, told online publishers at a breakfast at Abuja Tuesday morning that the indigenous operators are biting the fingers that fed them.
He said: “We fought for you but you now sabotage the oil economy”.
He accused them of harbouring a sense of entitlement thus relying on ‘man know man’.
He said the indigenous operators try to save costs and care for profit more than national interest. “They want to be exempted from the Law Content Act. We have made it clear that the law is for all.”
Wabote said it is wrong for a local contractor to win a job and employ 90 per cent expatriate experts, thereby causing job loss to Nigerians”.
He also accused them of project execution without getting approval. They also use workers not registered in the expertise ledger.
He said: “They find it difficult to pay the one per cent levy stipulated by the Act. That is why the EFCC ,(Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) is now after them. They call to accuse me of sending the EFCC after them”.
The ES said Nigeria has moved from three per cent local content value in the oil industry to 54 per cent.
He warned that if indigenous operators don’t arrest the growth path by capturing the regulatory system, Nigeria will hit the 70 per cent target.
