JOHN OVIE
The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act became active on April 22, 2010, during the days of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the then president. The objective was to boost Nigerian participation in the oil and gas sector.
That is how the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was birthed.
Unlike many other boards in Nigeria that barely exist in name, the NCDMB, upon its establishment, began a vigorous implementation of its core mandate -ensuring that Nigerians control and enjoy their God given black gold and other natural resources in fullness.
Before then, the level of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry was very low, fluctuating around a paltry 3 per cent and 5 per cent, meaning most revenue and activities flowed out of the country, with less than 5 per cent of spending retained locally.
The few privileged indigenous engineers and artisans that worked in the oil sector then were working with a burden of inferiority complex and a discomforting poor remuneration. But the good news today is that that old, ugly order has become history, courtesy of the emergence of the NCDMB.
Not many Nigerians are aware of the silent revolution going on in the oil and gas industry under a painstaking monitoring of Nigerian content by the board.
This informed NCDMB’s decision to take members of journalists on a two-day on-the-spot tour of oil and gas facilities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The tour was a shift from the usual annual theoretical media workshop being organized for media practitioners on the activities of the NCDMB.
Speaking during the exercise at the Marconi NG EPC Ltd facility in Rumuolumeni, NCDMB’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, said the initiative represented a significant shift from traditional classroom-based training to hands-on, boot-on-the-ground media engagement to keep the world abreast in practical terms on how NCDMB is affecting Nigeria’s economy, creating jobs, helping companies and promoting in-country growth.
“For the past eight years, we have held media capacity-building workshops annually in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja. But this year, we decided to take a step further—to bring the field to the media and the media to the field so journalists can merge theoretical knowledge with real-world experience,” he said.
Ezoebi pointed out that the Nigerian Content Act, especially Sections 67 and 70, places strong emphasis on communication and effective media engagement. This mandate, he noted, makes collaborations with leading industry players such as Marconi NG EPC both strategic and necessary.
He added that the tour also fulfilled a long-standing promise by the Board to broaden journalists’ capacity beyond lectures, enabling the media to understand not only policies but the practical realities that shape Nigeria’s oil and gas ecosystem.
He commended Marconi, PE Energy Limited and Burnorr Energy Integrated Services for opening their operations to the media, describing the companies as a shining example of local content advancement.
“Marconi is a good example of local content success. Promoting Nigerian companies is not about marginalization—it is about celebrating homegrown capacity,” he noted.
The general manager recalled that Saipem, the former operator of the facility, once struggled with effective operations in Nigeria’s swampy terrains. Today, under Nigerian ownership, the transformed Marconi NG EPC dominates onshore and swamp projects. “This is what happens when local content is nurtured—the value chain becomes stronger, and the results shine brighter,” he said.
Dr. Ezeobi expressed confidence that such exposure will enrich the quality of reportage, bridge knowledge gaps, and enhance public understanding of the industry.
“This experience helps the media see the value chain first-hand. It strengthens collaboration, enhances accuracy, and supports our broader mission of deepening Nigerian content,” he said.
With the success of this maiden edition, the NCDMB says it hopes to expand the initiative, making practical engagement a core part of its annual media development programme.
During the tour, one thing stood out-all the facilities visited could not hold back their ecstasies. They all unreservedly poured eulogies on the NCDMB. They described it as a board established to give Nigerian experts, particularly in the oil and gas industry their pride of place.
They made open affirmation that but for the creation of the NCDMB, Nigerians, no matter how intelligent, professional and proficient they may be, would have remained in perpetual servitude under expatriates in the oil and gas sector.
According to Chukwuemeka Igila, Vice President of PE Energy Limited, an oil and gas servicing company located at Trans Amadi in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the PE energy limited is one of the greatest beneficiary of the creation of NCDMB.
Conducting an array of journalists round the facility, Chukwuemeka pointed out that his company had reasons to express appreciation to the Nigerian content development and monitoring board for unclasping Nigerian professionals from the clapper claws of foreigners who, before now, dominated the mainstream, upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.
Igila said: “We are a hundred per cent Nigerian company. We are a product of Nigerian content as well. What you have seen here today is investment we have been able to put on ground to be able to showcase our local content capability in respect of what we are capable of doing in the oil and gas industry.
“Basically, we are focused on flow drive. When we say flow drive, we mean rotating equipment from pumps, compressors, turbines and other rotating process equipment. We are a purely hundred per cent valve company. We have the capacity to build, to manufacture and assemble valves in-country.
“We are also a measurement company. For you to sell the gas or the crude, you need to measure it appropriately so that you know what you are giving out which we call per-barrel billing from custody transfer measurement to allocation measurement and dispute resolution when it comes to co-mingled fields.”
Mentioning funding as a major challenge to indigenous companies in Nigeria, he also commended the efforts being made by the NCDMB in ensuring Nigerian firms stay afloat.
“We are in a country where an average business cannot easily access loans from the bank. Again, we are also grateful to NCDMB because they are bringing up various schemes to also help Nigerian companies with respect to funding of projects,” he added.
Aniekan Udom, the Nigerian content coordinator for PE Energy Limited, who also spoke to journalists during the tour, noted that the advent of the NCDMB had become a shining light in terms of the ease of doing business amongst Nigerian indigenous firms.
His words: “The existence of NCDMB alone is enough support. Today, as you are in this facility, you did not see a foreigner operating any of our machines. By that, I mean NCDMB has a policy. There is a NOGICD Act that mandates technology transfer and capacity building. That alone has ensured that PE Energy business has also been sustained.”
He recalled that during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that restricted international movement, precluding foreigners from coming to Nigeria, PE Energy stood out and operated without foreign aid because NCDMB ensured that indigenous persons were trained.
“Today, we don’t panic over the absence of foreigners because NCDMB has enabled our engineers to be trained. There are other policies and programmes that NCDMB has put in place that have also supported our business,” he added.
Indeed, the NCDMB is relentless in its push to hit seventy per cent Nigerian content in 2027. From three per cent in 2010, the board, through genuine efforts, achieved 56 per cent in 2024. With continuous support and adequate funding from the federal government, NCDMB can achieve its goal of seventy per cent Nigerian content in 2027.
