The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has stressed the importance of Nigerian Content to the national economy, just as it announced it has gotten approval to set up a $50 million Fund to support local manufacturing of equipment components used in the oil and gas industry and linkage sectors.
This was made known in Lagos on Thursday at breakfast meeting with members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote.
Wabote explained that the Fund, as approved by the body’s Governing Council, is to be dedicated to companies that would operate in Manufacturing Product Line of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Parks (NOGAPS) being constructed by the Board in Bayelsa and Cross River States.
The Executive Secretary, while calling on Nigerians to continue to advocate local content in all spehres of the Nigerian economy, enumerated several achievements already recorded in the on-going implementation of Phase 3 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, which commenced in year 2017.
He listed the achievements as including the completion and commissioning of the 5,000bpd Waltersmith Modular Refinery at Obigwe, Imo State; the refinery is currently in operation with the products completely sold out.
He noted that the NCDMB has launched the $350million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund managed by the Bank of Industry and NEXIM Bank for single digit loans for Asset Acquisition, Manufacturing, Loan Refinancing, Working Capital and Loan for Women in Oil and Gas.
According to him, the only infrastructure in Africa for FPSO integration is available in Nigeria, adding that the Egina FPSO which is the largest in the world was integrated at the SHI-MCI Yard in Lagos.
NCDMB, he noted further, has also inaugurated a $50 million Nigerian Content Research & Development Fund to drive basic research, commercialization of research breakthroughs, establishment of Centers of Excellence, and to sponsor University endowments.
Additionally, the Board has also floated a $50 million special loan product for women in the oil and gas business to enable empowerment of the womenfolk in the industry.
He stated “We also established another $30m Working Capital Fund to support oil and gas service companies. Both the Women and Working Capital funds are managed by Nexim Nigerian Export-Import Bank.”
Speaking further on the Board’s achievements, he said “The level of Expatriate Quota has continued in a downward trend due to our stringent monitoring activities and collaboration with the Ministry of Interior. We continue to utilize the Exchange Program and the Understudy Program under Expatriate Quota regime to develop required skills in the industry.”
He further cited construction of oil and gas industrial parks spread across six (6) states complete with the provision of infrastructure and utilities to enhance local manufacturing; as well as partnership for the local manufacturing of 1.2million composite LPG cylinders per year with the 1st phase scheduled for commissioning in 2022.
According to him, the Board has also gone into partnership for the establishment of additional modular refineries in Bayelsa and Edo States; as well as partnership for the construction of 300MMscfd gas gathering hub for gas supply into the OB-3 pipeline in Edo State.
59. Partnership to deepen LPG utilization in the North with the roll-out of LPG bottling plants and depots in ten (10) Northern States of Kaduna, Bauchi, Katsina, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Gombe, Zamfara, Jigawa and Abuja.
Noting that NCDMB has also gone into partnership to establish base oil manufacturing plant in Omagwa, Rivers State, he stated “We now boast of very high engineering design capacity as Nigerian companies now have the required skills to do conceptual, FEED, and detailed engineering designs.
“We now have capacity to manufacture low, medium, and high voltage cables and paints that can match any standard or quality in any part of the world.”
According to him, “the COVID-19 pandemic brought home the reality that every economy needs to develop local capacities and capabilities in the core sectors of its economy. So, all hands must now be on deck to push the Local Content narrative”
He advised members of GOCOP to continue to run the news publications with the highest form of professionalism and ethical conduct.
Wabote said: “I believe that the social media space and online media should not be gagged by laws but must be regulated in such a manner that encourages the freedom of expression enshrined in the 1999 Constitution as amended. The free exchange of ideas should be allowed to blossom. However, citizens must not take the liberty to libel or slander one another.
“As we all know, your freedom begins where the other persons freedom ends. As online publishers, you have a huge responsibility to condemn and weed out the bad eggs in your profession, and our society generally.
“Some of the online media platforms are undermining government’s noble intentions of bringing in technocrats and professionals to serve as appointees because of the targeted and unwarranted attack against these persons under the cloak of investigative journalism, thereby tarnishing the image of your wonderful profession.”
