From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCBMB), Felix Omatsola Ogbe, has reaffirmed the board’s commitment to creating a conducive business atmosphere to draw increased investments into the nation’s oil and gas industry.
Ogbe stated this on Monday at the opening of Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference (NOG 2024), holding in Abuja.
The three-day event is aimed at bringing stakeholders together to explore opportunities, boost investments, and address energy needs within the oil and gas sector.
The NCDMB boss said that the event serves as a platform for the Board to interact with stakeholders, discuss ongoing initiatives, and demonstrate progress towards fulfilling key objectives such as enhancing local skills and enforcing adherence to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010.
Ogbe noted that the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, announced by President Bola Tinubu earlier in the year, signifies the government’s commitment to promoting and prioritising local content initiatives within the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
This directive, according to him, aims to enhance local content depth, foster competitiveness, reduce the approval timeline and prevent the approval of unqualified contractors, amongst other things in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He said: “As we are all aware, the Nigerian Content Seminar session of the NOG Energy Week Conference is a flagship programme of the NOG. The Seminar gives the Board the opportunity to engage with our stakeholders and share the efforts and activities we are making at the Board towards achieving our critical mandates of developing local capacities and capabilities and enforcing compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010.
“This seminar is also an excellent platform to provide clarity, expositions, tips, and guidance to industry practitioners on the provisions of the Act, the Ministerial Regulations, NCDMB Guidelines, and other tools and initiatives such as Human Capacity Development (HCD), NOGICJQS, Nigerian Content Plan (NCP), Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate (NCEC), Expatriate Quota implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) Remittances, Nigerian Content Intervention Funds (NCIF), amongst others.
“It is encouraging that the Federal Government values the Local Content agenda. Recall that earlier this year, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, issued a Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements. The Presidential Directive seeks to further deepen local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry while enhancing competitiveness, mitigating risks of approving unqualified contractors, improving the approval timeline, creating an enabling business environment in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“Among other obligations, the Board is required to establish procedures for its execution in accordance with the Presidential Directive. I would like to take this occasion to inform you of the procedures the Board has established to execute the Directive. The Board is determined to establish an enabling business environment that will attract more investors to the country’s oil and gas sector.”