Nigeria’s Content Board Shares $21m NCI Fund to Vendors

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Maikanti Kacalla Baru, led other industry leaders to commend the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for the numerous achievements recorded in the implementation of Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry.

They spoke Tuesday at the 8th Practical Nigerian Content Workshop, organised by the NCDMB and CWC, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and pledged support to deepen the implementation of policies and initiatives that would increase in country value addition in the oil and gas sector.

According to Mr Kachikwu, the impact of Nigerian Content in the oil industry has stimulated other sectors like Information & Communication, Automobile, Construction and Power to adopt some of the templates in their policy formulations.

“We are also proud that some African countries like Kenya, Congo Brazzaville and Uganda as well as Gabon and Angola have come to Nigeria in the past for mentorship on Local Content initiatives,” he added.

The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Folashade Yemi, promised the commitment of the Federal Government to promoting robust private sector participation in the oil and gas sector and ensuring ease of doing business in the economy in general.

Also speaking, Mr Baru said NNPC was pleased to see the achievements of Local Content in various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He noted that in “in 2010, the available in-country capacity for line pipes was 100,000 metric tonnes, just 10 percent of the annual industry demand of one million MT/annum.

“However, today, through the robust collaboration of NCDMB with NNPC and other stakeholders, the capacity of line pipes has been ramped up to 420,000MT/annum, representing 40 percent of industry demand.”

The GMD reaffirmed “NNPC’s commitment to compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, to increase in-country value addition and support job creation. We will also continue to encourage our partners to do the same.

“NNPC is fully committed to NCDMB’s agenda for the next ten years, to increase Nigerian Content in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry to 70 percent by 2017.”

Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, presented a scorecard of the Board’s performance in 2018, dwelling particularly on the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap.

On the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) launched to provide funding support to local service companies, Mr Wabote stated that $21 million has been given out as loan to beneficiaries as at the end of October.

“In 2019, we intend to develop and launch our investment policy to further provide flexibility to our funding and investment interventions,” he said.

He also hinted that in 2019 the Board “plans to support the establishment of at least one more modular refinery and participate in the LPG value chain if the condition precedent are in place”

NCDMB had in 2018 taken 30 percent equity in the 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State and commenced the construction of oil and gas parks at Bayelsa and Cross River States.

On the provision of constant power to the parks, Mr Wabote said a thermal power plant was being constructed by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), which would also serve the oil and gas park in Bayelsa state while discussions are ongoing to source electricity from the NIPP station in Odukpani, Cross River State to supply the park situated close-by.

Other plans for 2019 include the finalization of the review of Offshore Rig Acquisition Strategy and posting of 20 trained marine personnel being trained by the Board, for their 1 year international sea time in fulfilment of the requirement for the Certificate of Competency (CoC).

The Executive Secretary also reported that the Board has commenced the forensic audit of remittances to the Nigerian Content Development Fund and fulfilled its promise to put in place 3rd party monitors to enhance compliance monitoring in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry.

He added that, “By 2019, we intend to deepen and widen the roll-out of third party monitoring service providers for effective monitoring of the 51 operating companies and close to 8,000 oil and gas service providers registered on our NOGIC-JQS. In addition, we will further expand our compliance and enforcement framework to cover marginal field operators, midstream and downstream sectors.”

He said the Board have established collaborative efforts with the Nigeria Customs Service, EFCC, NNPC, NAPIMS, Nigeria Immigration Service, FAAN, OGFZA, National Judicial Council and NIMASA and would sharpen those inter-agency collaborations going forward.

In his remarks, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon Seriake Dickson, commended the NCDMB for being a good corporate citizen in the state and expressed hope that the completion of the Board’s 17-storey headquarters would lead to more oil and gas deals being sealed in the state, so the citizenry would derive maximum benefits.