Ofonime UMANAH
A former president of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has given an insight into the circumstances that informed his decision to give legal teeth to the Nigerian Content Bill, which resulted in the birth of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, while he was the acting president, in 2010.
At the inaugural Champions of Nigerian Content Award which was part of activities for the 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair, NOGOF, held in Yenagoa, Jonathan revealed that he was spurred by a Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni as well as happenings in China, to give his full support to the bill on local content.
Saying that Museveni repeatedly mentioned Nigeria as a reference point for underperformance in utilisation of oil resources, Jonathan also said China was a good example in the domestication of oil and gas industry activities, hence his decision to support the push for a local content policy framework in the country.
NOGOF 2025 afforded industry players the opportunity to grab available windows in the industry. It was attended by about 1000 delegates, with participants, including the ministers of state, petroleum, oil and gas respectively, as well as the Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, setting an agenda for the industry players.
At the award event, where individuals and corporate organisations were honoured for the roles they have played in watering and growing local content in the country, Jonathan said Nigeria would have gone farther than where it was in terms of growth and value optimisation in the oil and gas industry if the country had laws designed to protect it at the inception of the industry.
He said “I brought this story because I used to tell people that if at the beginning of the oil industry, we had laws designed to protect us, Nigeria would have gone farther than this. But we did not have that kind of law.”
He recalled that the first law that governed the Nigerian oil industry was the Mineral Ordinance of 1886, which he doubted if a Nigerian played any role in its development and added that the second law that governed the country’s oil industry was the Mineral Oil Ordinance of 1914, which came the year the country was amalgamated, and which, according to him, many Nigerians did not have knowledge of.
The former president maintained that the law that actually started the oil industry in Nigeria was the Petroleum Act of 1969, which came after the discovery of oil in commercial quantity at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, and after the country’s independence in 1960.
Jonathan said: “The next robust law was the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that we worked on during my government, but luckily in 2021, it was passed into law.
“To me, today makes me quite happy remembering the journey of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board. Then, what is the story about the Nigerian content or the popularly called Local Content Law. I signed that law in April 2010. As at that time, I was acting President. Of course, you know the story of my becoming acting President. And so, people asked, so why the speed in signing that law?
“Actually, the bill was a private member bill. It was not an executive bill, and I must use this opportunity to commend people like Lee Maeba, a senator from Rivers State. He and other senators came up with the bill.
“So, when the minister of petroleum briefed me that there was such a bill going on in the National Assembly, I was quite pleased and I was just waiting for it, when I was acting President, that was 2010. And when the National Assembly came up with the bill, I hurriedly signed it and we quickly set up the monitoring board.”
He said his visit to China in 2000 as deputy governor in Bayelsa also made him to realise how long China had liberated itself from Western domination in their oil sector while Nigeria remained wholly dependent on Western equipment and materials for oil and gas activities.
Jonathan said, “ One thing that struck me was that the Western companies discovered oil in commercial quantity in Nigeria in Oloibiri in 1956. But the same Western companies discovered oil in commercial quantity in China in 1958, two years after.
“But as at 2000, most of the needs of the oil industry in China were manufactured locally. But in Nigeria, if any company needs a valve, they must go to their home county. If they need a pin, they must go home.
“So, sometimes, the companies will say, governor, deputy governor, we are investing $1 billion or $500 million in a project in your state. Then you ask yourself, what percentage of that half a billion or one billion really goes to impact the local economy? And you will see nothing, because nothing was being produced here. Maybe they hire labourers or small steel boats, which is probably $50 million. Every other thing is spent outside.”
In his welcome address at the event, Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Felix Omatsola Ogbe noted that the board had come a long way in implementation of the NOGICD Act and recorded landmark achievements in which outstanding industry players, individuals and corporate entities, deserved to be identified and honoured.
In his words, “the time has come to identify and celebrate pillars of Nigerian Content who shall serve as a shining example of what is expected of others in the industry.”
Another person who was honoured in the distinguished individuals category was Tony Attah, Managing Director of Renaissance Africa Energy Limited, as “Nigerian Content Icon of the Year. The award was for his time as the Managing Director of Nigeria LNG Limited, during which time he secured the Final Investment Decision (FID) for NLNG Train 7 project and led his organization to partner with NCDMB to sign the first Service Level Agreement (SLA) which Nigeria LNG in June 2017.
Other top winners include Professor Emenike Ejiogu of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), as “Nigerian Content Innovator of the Year,” and Ms. Iroghama Ogbeifun, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Starzs Investments Company Limited received the women in leadership award.
In the corporate category, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), now known as Renaissance Africa Energy Limited, clinched the “Nigerian Content International Upstream Operator of the Year Award,” while Aradel won the “Nigerian Content Independent Upstream Operator of the Year Award.”
Other winners in the corporate category were Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited as “Nigerian Content Midstream Operator of the Year”; Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited as “Nigerian Content Downstream Operator of the Year”; Dorman Long Engineering Company Limited as “Nigerian Content Indigenous Service Company of the Year,”and Technip FMC as “Nigerian Content International Service Company of the Year.”
On the winners list also were Bank of Industry (BOI) as “Nigerian Content Financial Services Provider of the Year” and Thisday Newspapers as “Nigerian Content Media Organisationof the Year.”
Speaking on the selection criteria, a member of the Award Advisory Committee, Mr. Wole Akinyosoye, former Operations Controller with the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said measurable metrics were used to determine the winners.
According to him, “Awardees must have demonstrated operational consistency where applicable; must have contributed to enhanced utilization and monetization of gas resources as applicable, and must have improved on local refining where applicable in terms of capacity and energy security.”
