refineries were not working.
“What can you recover? A man (Mr. Offor) who was paid upfront. He had people…. after I left he became friends with every government that has come. Now he’s not only into refinery and oil and all that, he’s now also in energy.”
Nevertheless, TAM contracts of both the old and the new Port-Harcourt Refineries were awarded to Mr. Offor by the Goodluck Jonathan government in 2014, under controversial circumstances.
But the refineries have in recent years worked in fits and starts despite those new rounds of ‘rehabilitation’ by Mr. Offor’s firms. The authorities are yet to give any coherent explanation for this situation. If anything, Nigeria’s oil minister confirmed in July that fresh efforts to revamp the refineries through private sector funding had been commissioned.
‘Broke and shut’
In a letter dated August 16, Chrome’s staff warned of legal action if “immediate steps” were not taken by Mr. Offor within seven days.
But Mr. Offor is not “perturbed”, said his lawyer, Jeph Njikonye, in a reply, dated August 22, to the staff’s counsel.
In the letter, Mr. Offor described the claims by his aggrieved ex-staffers as “bogus and presumptuous”.
“The totality of your claims, allegations, inclusive of monetary claims and allegations of unfair labour practices and failure to make remittances are with respect, gold digging and grossly unsubstantiated,” Mr. Offor’s reply read.
“They are unequivocally repudiated”.
He, however, offered explanation why Mr. Offor had been unable to meet his obligations to “a handful of former staff”.
“Sequel to the general economic meltdown and recession in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our client’s businesses suffered frustration commencing from March 2015 and grounded to a halt in September 2015,” read the reply.
“Consequently,” Mr. Offor, his lawyer said, “had no job to execute and closed office starting from September 2015.”
“If our client’s businesses revive as our client hopes they will, our client will determine whom to re-engage as staff and what terms and conditions such a re-engagement will be.”
PREMIUM TIMES confirmed the closure of the company. During our visit to the 22 Lobito Crescent, Abuja headquarters of the Chrome on Monday, a private security agent said “the office has been locked for long.”
“As you can see nobody came to office; the office is under lock.”
“Long long before Sallah,” said the security agent, when asked if the it was the case the case that the company was yet to resume from the last Eid holiday officially observed nationwide between Friday and Monday.
Asked why the company was shut down, he replied, “because there’s no operation; the company stopped operating.”
Apart from Chrome, Mr. Offor’s other company, Global Scansystems Limited is also troubled.
The staff there have not been paid for two years, while their terminal benefits remain unpaid, the employees said.
The staff of Global Scansystems are now locked in battle with Mr. Offor at the National Industrial Court.
