Follow Us on Google
The Federal Government has continued to relish the gains of passing the 2010 Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, saying the move halted an estimated loss of over $380 billion (USD) to capital flight and two million jobs within the 50-year period the Act was not in existence. Also lost was the opportunity cost for in-country capacity development and value addition in the oil and gas industry.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr Simbi Wabote, made the disclosure at the 5th Annual Valuechain Lecture and Awards, convened by MBdotCOM Media Associates, held in Abuja recently.
According to him, the situation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry before the enactment of the NOGICD Act 2010 was appalling, adding that the cumulative Nigerian content level before the creation of the NCDMB was less than five percent.
He noted that through pragmatic application of certain provisions of the NOGICD Act 2010, the NCDMB has recorded various landmark achievements in the oil and gas industry within 12 years of its existence and grown Nigerian content level from 5 per cent to 42 per cent as at December 2021.
Wabote pointed out that the landmark achievements under the Nigerian Content Law leave visible footprints in the production records of indigenous operators, in-country capital retention, development of infrastructure, vendor development and supply chain efficiency, engineering and technical services, fabrication capability, human capacity development, job creation, asset ownership, procurements, manufacturing of critical oil and gas tools and components, and most importantly a paradigm shift in project execution philosophy of operating and service companies in Nigeria.
He explained joy that President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to reinforce local content practice in the industry through his total support for the Board’s programmes as well as the issuing of Executive Orders (EO: 3 & 5) that aim to promote local content in the public procurements and projects.
“There are currently before the National Assembly, three different bills seeking to extend local content law to other sectors.”
