Nigeria LNG pays N10.9tr to Government, JV, shareholders

Assets hits N2.5tr since inception
Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) has since inception, paid $55 billion (about N10.9 trillion) to Joint Venture (JV), shareholders and the Federal Government.

Besides, the company’s assets currently stand at about $15 billion (N2.9 trillion).The company, which made this disclosure in its 2016 facts and figures released yesterday in Lagos, put the payment to JV feedgas suppliers from inception till date at $23 billion, of which 55 to 60 per cent of this amount is payable to the Federal Government via its shareholding in the NNPC.

It added that the company also over the years paid dividends of almost $32 billion, out of which 49 per cent went to the Federal Government of Nigeria courtesy of its shareholding in the company, again via NNPC.

NLNG disclosed that it contributes to national wealth and economic wellbeing of states in which it operates, by paying all applicable taxes and tariffs, adding that, its corporate income tax paid to the Federal Government amounted to about $2.2 billion in 2015.

It noted that the company, since 2008, contributed about four per cent of Nigeria’s yearly Gross Domestic Product (GDP).The company stated: “NLNG provided more than 12,000 jobs each construction year. Overall, the major sub-contractors employed over 18,000 Nigerians in technical jobs in the base project.

“Through each Nigeria Content plan for its contracts, NLNG has promoted the development and employment of Nigerian manpower. For instance, over 600 Nigerians have been trained in Nigeria and at the contractors shipyards in Korea as part of Nigerian Content deliverables tied to the purchase of six new LNG vessels by Bonny Gas Transport, a wholly owned subsidiary of NLNG.
“Those 600 Nigerians, with enhanced skills in welding, hull assembly, pipe fitting, electrical, mechanical, painting and ship design join the country’s workforce, providing a support bas for technology transfer and industrialisation”.

It noted that the company supports the development of community and Nigerian contractors to enable them to achieve standards of excellence.

According to the company, through the initiative to empower local contractors via the Finima Legacy project, local contractors have made capital investments in their companies thereby expanding their operating capacity. “The capabilities of local vendors have also been developed through mentoring and midwifing of partnerships between more established Nigerian vendors and community vendors”, it added.

On domestic gas supply, it disclosed that the company commenced the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise known as cooking gas to the domestic market in 2007 when refineries became challenged and supply was grossly inadequate, thus ensuring LPG supply availability and affordability in the domestic market.

“The intervention, which is in line with company’s vision of “helping to build a better Nigeria”, has significantly contributed to the stimulation and development of the domestic LPG market both in terms of increased private sector investment across the LPG value chain as well as increased consumption which has grown from less than 40,000 metric tonnes in 2007 to over 320,000 metric tonnes in 2015. The intervention has also contributed in effectively bringing down the price of cooking gas from over N7,000 in 2007 to less than N3,500 per 12.5kg cylinder today”.