FG Oil Minister Decries Over Poor Repayment Of NCIF Loans Obtain From NCDMB

 By Inegbagha Majesty 

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has emphatically decried over poor repayment of loans obtained from the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund issued by Nigerian Content Development Monitoring  Board.

Senator Heineken Lokpobiri

The Minister stated categorically that out of the 70 oil companies that got the loans only 21 have paid, while 49 companies are yet to pay, stating their unwillingness not to repaid the loan obtained many years ago.

Senator Lokpobiri made his feeling known on Thursday at the NCDMB Towers, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in his remarks at an occasion when one of the benefiting companies, Tamrose Limited had just repaid its own $10m NCI Fund.

While the Executive Chairman of Tamrose Limited, Mr Ambrose Ovbiebo, described the repayment milestone as a reflection of both the rigorous standards applied by NCDMB in selecting beneficiaries and the impact of its interventions in building capacity among indigenous firms, saying the loan aided the increment of its vessels from four to 15, Lokpobiri,  warned that the government would no longer tolerate defaults in loan repayment.

His words:" Ladies and gentlemen, let me also use this opportunity to call on all our companies that are taking advantage of this fund; they have to sit up to meet their obligations of servicing the loans. If you don’t service the loans, this money will not be available for other companies to also benefit from it.

“The money that is fully repaid by Tamrose will be taken by some other companies to grow their capacity. But some companies take this money, and they do not repay, and some of them deliberately don’t want to pay,” he averred 

Lokpobiri regretted that some companies, despite enjoying a single-digit facility, still chose not to honour their obligations.

He explained that companies which fully repay their loans could still reapply for further support under the same scheme. The minister stressed that the government would deploy legal means to recover the funds from defaulting companies.

“And also, as a lawyer, I also want to say that for those who feel that they are not going to pay, we will use the instrumentality of the law to recover this money so that we can use it to develop this sector. We are not going to allow anybody to use this money to go and buy private jets. We will pursue anybody who has taken this money and has not fulfilled the obligation to pay,” he warned.

Lokpobiri revealed that when he assumed office, he was briefed by the NCDMB and given a detailed record of beneficiaries of the intervention fund, which, he said, showed widespread default.

At The event the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Felix Ogbe, assured stakeholders of the board’s commitment to supporting investors in the oil and gas sector.

The board stressed that with the NCI Fund support, Tamrose limited has since expanded its operations and now owns a fleet of 15 vessels, comprising 10 security patrol vessels and five platform supply vessels.

The Executive Secretary who was represented at the event by the General Manager, Human Capacity Development, NCDMB, Esueme Kikile, disclosed that the board will launch anew equity fund in December.

“We will continue to expand our activities to strengthen our role in renewables, expand the new economy, and build a strong industrial base that is powered by Nigerian talent, Nigerian capital, and Nigerian innovation. On  

”The NCEF is designed to provide long-term risk capital to support Nigerian companies operating in high-value and high-impact sectors. This innovative product will be officially launched at our Practical Nigerian Content Forum, to be held here in this hall in December,” Ogbe said.