The House of Representatives committee on Local Content has raised the alarm over alleged illegal operations of a Korean firm, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Nigeria Limited.
The Korean company according to the chairman of the committee, Hon. Asita Honourable, is currently executing contracts to the sum of $7 billion yet it does not have any investment in the country.
The House of Representatives committee on Local Content has raised the alarm over alleged illegal operations of a Korean firm, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Nigeria Limited.
The Korean company according to the chairman of the committee, Hon. Asita Honourable, is currently executing contracts to the sum of $7 billion yet it does not have any investment in the country.
Asita Honourable, who made the revelation after an investigative session with the company, lamented that out of over 182 staff in the company, only 10 are Nigerians . He stressed that even the Koreans working there had no work permits.
The committee expressed concern over the alleged monumental fraud going on in company.
According to the chairman of the committee, it was obvious that the company was not fit to continue to operate in the country.
He said the committee discovered that most of the Koreans working in the company have no relevant work permits and directed that they should be repatriated immediately.
Addressing the company’s managing director, Kung Choi, the House committee chairman said: “We showed you in the past areas of violations in the letter written to you, we told you to forward relevant documents but you are just bringing them now, your intention was to ask for more time.”
The chairman also expressed worry that the company brought in Korean painters, pipe fitters, wielders and labour assistants to work in Nigeria while millions of Nigerian youths are looking for jobs.
He frowned at this development, saying the investors are the one creating unemployment in the country, even as he stressed that the claim of bringing the Koreans to ensure efficiency into the job was unfounded.
The committee noted that the law requires some conditions to be met before bringing in expatriates.
In his response, the managing director, Kung Choi , explained that they were in the House to defend all the issues raised against them.
“We are complying with the law, we have prepared a documents to prove that we are competent to operate in the country,” he said.
The managing director explained that they have 107 temporary staff and 85 permanent staff on the company’s payroll.
“What we have is the application to the immigration office. We do not have approval from the Nigeria Content Monitoring Board; our interpretation was that we do not need to have the permit. We made remedial action by sending those foreigners back to Korea,” he added.
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