10,000 Olokola Workers To Lose Jobs

Nigeria’s unemployment situation is set to worsen as the fate of about 10,000 workers in the Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas project, OKLNG, is currently on the line, following the pulling out of Chevron and Shell, which threatens continuation of the project.

The workers, currently employed in the construction phase of the project, risk being disengaged, as Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, yesterday, confirmed its withdrawal from the OKLNG project, blaming it on the lack of progress on the project, eight years after its inception.

Vanguard had, last Friday, exclusively reported that Chevron and Shell had pulled out of the project, citing non-commitment on the part of the Federal Government to pursue the completion of the project and the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

Shell has refused to confirm its pull-out as Chevron did, thereby raising questions as to the reason for the secrecy.

Likewise, the word is mum at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the principal partner in the project, which had been informed on the oil majors’ decisions, and had over the years seconded a lot of its staff to the OKLNG project.

However, after almost a month of taking the decision, Chevron, in a statement by its General Manager, Policy, Government & Public Affairs, Mr. Deji Haastrup, said that the company effectively pulled out of the project on July 31.

It added that efforts over the last eight years to mature the project had not resulted in a final investment decision, FID.

The statement also confirmed that Shell pulled out of the OKLNG project on July 31.