Oil industry operators have requested that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board execute the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010 in order to successfully increase the sector’s output.
Panellists at a session titled “Exportation of Local Capacity: Maximising Regional Opportunities” at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas conference in Abuja on Monday said that while Nigeria has increased its oil capacity, local content laws must be enforced to retain and adequately utilise the capacity before exporting it.
Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, Chairman of Nestoil Limited and a panellist during the session, said that many African countries now look up to Nigeria due to its gains in local content.
“What is very important is that we need to sustain the capacities,” he said, adding that the government, through the NCDMB, could help with this.
Azudialu-Obiejesi stated, “Today, people look up to Nigeria to learn from what it has accomplished in the oil industry. This signifies that they appreciate Nigeria’s successes in local content.
The Nestoil CEO stated that he believes “what the NCDMB has done is good, but they need to continue to enforce these laws so that Nigerians who have developed these capacities will have them stay,” adding that this would benefit the sector.
Also speaking on the subject, Henry Okolie-Aboh, Managing Director of Westfield Energy Resources Limited, stated that Nigeria’s oil and gas capacity has increased.
He asked NCDMB to assist sector operators in growing this capacity through local content laws, noting that the oil industry requires a large number of competent workers to thrive.
Earlier, Felix Ogbe, Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, stated that the Nigerian Content Seminar, a flagship session of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Energy Week Conference, was organised to engage stakeholders and expose how the agency enforces local content rules.
He stated, “As we all know, the Nigerian Content Seminar session of the NOG Energy Week Conference is a hallmark programme of the NOG.
“The seminar allows the board to engage with our stakeholders and share the efforts and activities we are undertaking to achieve our critical mandates of developing local capacities and capabilities and ensuring compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010.
“This seminar is also an ideal opportunity for industry practitioners to gain clarity, expositions, recommendations, and guidance on the provisions of the Act, ministerial rules, and NCDMB guidelines.
“Others include the tools and initiatives such as human capacity development, Nigerian Content Plan, Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate, expatriate quota implementation, monitoring and evaluation, Nigerian Content Development Fund remittances, Nigerian Content Intervention Funds, among others.”
