Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, yesterday, disclosed that the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act has retained over $8 billion and created 50,000 direct jobs in the past 11 years.
He stated this in Lagos during breakfast meetings with members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, as well as editors of newspapers and electronic media at the weekend.
He hinted that the level of Nigerian content in the oil industry hovered around five per cent before the enactment of the NOGICD Act in 2010, but the implementation of the Nigerian Content Law resulted in an increase to 26 per cent in 2016 and 42 per cent as of December 2021.
Wabote explained that NCDMB had launched the 10-Year Strategic Roadmap of the Nigerian content in 2017, with a target to achieve 70 per cent local content by 2027.
He said: “As part of the goal, the Board will catalyze the creation of 300, 000 direct jobs in the oil and gas industry and linkage sectors, enable retention of $13 billion of the estimated $20 billion yearly spend in the oil and gas industry and establishment of fabrication yards and manufacturing hubs in the country.
He said a pointer of the marked improvement in Nigerian content implementation remained the fact that the local economy used to retain little or nothing from the yearly oil industry spend of $20 billion before the NOGICD Act, 2010.
“But it is now able to retain over $8 billion in-country per year. The improvement is due to the development of critical capacity and assets by local oil and gas services companies and increased domiciliation and domestication of industry operations,” he said.
Wabote further disclosed that Nigeria had also moved from near zero participation in the operations side of the oil and gas sector to the point where “our indigenous operators such as SEPLAT, AITEO, EROTON and others are now responsible for 15 per cent of our oil production and 60 per cent of domestic gas supply.”
Other major accomplishments of Nigerian content implementation include the establishment of two world-class pipe mills and five impressive pipe coating yards, the ability of Nigerian firms to fabricate more than 250,000 tons of steel yearly and ownership of over 40 per cent of marine vessels in the oil and gas industry by Nigerians.
Continuing, he stated that over 10 million training man hours have been delivered through the Board’s Human Capacity Development Programmes, adding: “It was no surprise that our indigenous workforce was able to sustain oil production during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.”
Providing details of the Board’s provision of credit facilities to the oil and gas industry, Wabote said the NCDMB had inaugurated a $50million Nigerian Content Research & Development Fund to drive basic research, commercialisation of research breakthroughs, establishment of research centres of excellence and sponsored university endowments.
He added that the Board floated a $50 million special loan product for women in the oil and gas business to empower women in the industry and established another $30 million Working Capital Fund to support oil and gas services companies managed by the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, among other feats.(The Guardian)
•PHOTO: Simbi Wabote
