Photo caption: Some of the abandoned equipment at the facility
The Senate has begun to consider resuscitating the moribund multi-billion naira Kaztec Engineering Facility at Snake Island, Ilase, Lagos State.
The move was part of the upper legislative chamber’s commitment to investigating the reasons behind the project’s shutdown with a view to seek solutions for reviving the facility toward revitalising the Nigerian economy.
The chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Senator Eteng Williams, led the committee members to the Kaztec fabrication yard on Saturday for an on-site inspection and to ascertain the level of degradation suffered by the facility since its eight years of inactivity owing to a force majeure declared on it in 2015.
This is coming a few weeks after the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, visited the site with various stakeholders for an on-the-spot assessment. The governor had called on President Bola Tinubu to look into the concerns as the facility has the potential of changing the face of the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
The technical director of Kaztec Engineering, Mr Mike Simpson, during the tour, stated that the facility had been operational, employing over 10,000 people both directly and indirectly until a force majeure incident in February 2015 which led to its shutdown.
Some of the abandoned equipment at the facility
He lamented that jobs have been lost, equipment and material worth billions of dollars had been abandoned leading to business failures.
During the inspection tour, Senator Williams pledged that his Committee would carry out a comprehensive investigation, identify the factors that led to the project’s current status, while ensuring that justice is served to all the parties. He also assured that the visit had afforded the Senate Committee first-hand knowledge and would lead to effective formulation of policies for the revival of the company to prevent future occurrence.
He said; “We’ve seen it all. We’re going back to the drawing board and we will call everyone involved.
“We have the assurances of the Senate President because we all want this country to work for everyone.
“We’re committed to make things work and we’re assuring all stakeholders that justice will be done,” he stated.
Present at the visit were Committee members including its vice chairman, Senator Allwell Iheanacho Onyesoh, Senator Nwaebonyi Onyeka, Senator Victor Umeh, Senator Tony Nwoye, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, Senator Darlington Nwokocha, Senator Osita Ngwu, as well as representatives from Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and other regulatory agencies.
Kaztec Engineering Limited is a 100 per cent owned indigenous Engineering, Procurement, Installation, Construction, and Management (EPIC-M) company.
Incorporated in 2005, Kaztec became the pace setter EPIC-M company in Onshore/Offshore Pipelines and Facilities Engineering until Addax Petroleum Limited declared a controversial force majeure that has led to job losses, financial and economic losses, business failures and consequential challenges that have brought the company to its present state.
