Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Felix Omatsola Ogbe, has listed some benefits of the recent presidential directive on local content compliance requirements, saying the directive will create the room for enhanced competitiveness and mitigation of risks in regard to unqualified contractors.
Ogbe was speaking in Abuja at the ongoing the Nigerian oil and gas energy conference. According to him, there would be a window for the promotion of the utilisation/growth of in-country capacities, while cost competitiveness of oil and gas projects would be enhanced under the new regime.
He said once the directive is followed, “non-inclusion of intermediary entities lacking the essential capacity to perform from the Nigerian content plan, approval of Nigerian content plan (which consists of contractors that meet the legal definition of Nigerian companies and demonstrate capacity to execute projects within Nigeria) and ensuring that entities acting solely as intermediaries, with no demonstrable capacity to execute the project or activity, shall not be approved.
The NCDMB, he noted, would “continue to leverage its existing processes “to assess and verify the capacity of companies, facilitating and carrying out in-country capacity audits in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders,” adding that “on enhancement of cost competitiveness of oil and gas projects, he said, among other activities operators in the oil and gas industry would only be permitted to source capacities out-of-country “only after in-country capacity gaps have been identified.”
While assuring that entities acting solely as intermediaries with no demonstrable capacity to execute a project would not be approved, he reiterated that the board under him remained “steadfast in its dedication to guaranteeing that any services provided will generate value in the country,” and that it would “evaluate current policies and guidelines to encourage the development of indigenous capabilities and guarantee that these policies and guidelines are not misused, misapplied, or misinterpreted.”
Ogbe said the presidential directive and the Board’s modalities were in sync with the objectives of its 10-Year Strategic Roadmap, which aims to increase Nigerian Content to 70 per cent by 2027.
He took advantage of the opportunity to enumerate some of the accomplishments of the Board, to include the inauguration of Amal Technologies Gas Leak Detection Device and Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing facility in December 2023 in Abuja, the commissioning of the Kwale Gas Gathering (KGG) Hub and NEDOGAS Plant in June in Delta State, and the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ubeta Field Development Project by TotalEnergies Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited and its Joint Venture partner, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
He celebrated winners and participants in the Golf Tournament organized as part of the NOG Energy Week. The golf tourney is sponsored by the NCDMB and the Executive Secretary emphasized that the event is an excellent platform to provide clarity, expositions, tips and guidance to industry players on the provisions of the NOGICD Act.
Speaking during one of the break-out sessions, the Director of Projects Certification and Authorization Certificate (PCAD) at the NCDMB, Abayomi Bamidele said NCDMB had enabled oil and gas through its policies, collaboration and investments. He indicated that about 1000 Nigerian service companies were registered on the NOGIC JQS in 2011, but the number had increased to 13,000, while the number of operating companies had equally increased to 120 firms.
He charged service companies to only accept jobs they have the technical capacity to execute, and to eschew the practice of bidding for every job in the oil and gas industry. He also emphasized that Nigerian Content is not a major cost driver in Nigeria, noting that other elements like security and managing community stakeholders are big cost drivers.
Also speaking, General Manager, Planning Research and Statistics, Mr. Silas Omomehin Ajimijaye affirmed that subsequent legislations enacted in the oil and gas industry after the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act had reinforced the NOGICD Act.
