Dipo Olowookere
Managing Director of Samsung in Nigeria, Mr Young Ho Jo, has been declared an illegal immigrant and should be deported to his country, South Korea.
This declaration was made on Thursday by the Senate, which is investigating his company’s role in the $16.35 billion Egina Oil Field Project.
Chairman of the Senate’s ad-hoc committee probing the project, Mr Solomon Adeola, said on Thursday that Mr Jo entered the country without proper documentation and that a letter has been written to the Ministry of Interior to ensure the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) immediately returns him to his country.
He noted that the South Korean, during his alleged illegal residency in Nigeria as Samsung MD, also violated the Local Content Act by spending $1.6 billion out of the $3.5 billion contract Samsung got from the $16.35 billion Egina Oil Field Project in Goje, South Korea.
“Mr Young Ho Jo, who has been working for the past two months in Nigeria as the Managing Director of Samsung without fulfilling legal requirements for such, told us that he couldn’t complete his documentation as a result of alleged breakdown of machines of the Nigeria Content Development Monitoring Board (NCMDB).
“But the NCMBD wrote to us that their machine had never broken down in the period claimed, showing that the man has contravened the Local Content law.
“Going by recommendations made by this committee to the Senate and resolution adopted, MD Samsung is no longer recognised on account of improper documentation as shown by papers he presented.
“To the Senate and this committee, Samsung MD is an illegal immigrant who must be deported by the Nigerian Immigration Service to which a letter to that effect has been forwarded to the Ministry of Interior.
“He can, however, come back to the country through proper documentation thereafter,” Mr Adeola said.
