Abuja – The House of Representatives on Friday advised the Federal Government to deport three officials of Hyundai Heavy Industry Company Limited.
The advice was directed to the Minister of Interior, retired Lieut.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau, and the officials of the company recommended for deportation are Een Moon, Lee Woo and Lee Jong.
Besides, the lawmakers said that an extensive investigation of activities of the company since it began business in Nigeria would be carried out.
This is sequel to alleged of violation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development Act, 2010 by officials of the Hyundai.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Chairman of Committee on Local Content, Rep. Emmanuel Ekon (Akwa Ibom-PDP), said that the committee would invite relevant government agencies on the investigation.
“The agencies are Department of State Security (DSS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Accountant General of Federation to investigate and audit activities and finances of the company since its inception in the country.
“The officials of HHI have very little or no regard for the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“They continued with their operations and had flagrant disregard for the rule in spite of observations by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
“The NCDMB gave HHI conditions for renewal of their expatriate quota or even obtaining the ones which they neither observed nor bothered to address.
“The Nigerian Immigration Service and the Federal Ministry of Interior should step up in the regulation of the quota system,’’ Ekon said.
He said the committee would write to the HHI’s parent company to send a “proper Managing Director of Vice President status’’ to its Nigerian office considering the amount of business it was doing in Nigeria.
He added that if found wanting after investigation, the committee would recommend to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that HHI and its subsidiaries were not fit to operate in Nigeria’s oil industry.
Earlier, Assistant Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service, Mrs Rebecca Ayuba, who appeared before the committee members, said that out of 23 passports it retrieved from Hyundai, 21 were Temporary Working Permits.
According to her, two of the passports are subject to registration Visa STR.
She told the committee that the service was more concerned with the temporary working permits, and had put a stop to applications for the extension for 10 expatriates’ permit due to ongoing investigations.
