Report by Elias Ali
With the strategic Roadmap launched by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, the agency hopes to raise Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector to 70 percent by 2027. This could lead to the creation of 300,000 jobs in the country in the oil and gas sector and the linkage industries.This would lead to an increase in the in-country spend in the sector to13% of the estimated overall spend of about $20b.
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| Engr. Simbi Wabote Executive Secretary, NCDMB |
The Nigerian content level prior to the establishment of NOGICD Act in 2010 was about 5%. However, it has increased to 42 percent by December 2021 due to careful implementation of the ACT by the agency.
These facts
were disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the Agency (NCDMB), Engr, Simbi Wabote, while speaking in Lagos, at a Breakfast Meeting with members of the
Guild of Corporate Online publishers, and Editors of Newspapers and Broadcast
stations. The event held on Thursday, and Friday respectively.
He used the
opportunity to throw further light on the achievements of the agency within the
past 11 years of its creation, from 2010 to 2021.
Right now, “our
indigenous operators such as Aiteo, Seplat, Eroton, and others, are responsible
for 15% of our oil production, and 60% of our domestic gas supply.” This represents a remarkable achievement, from
almost nil participation in the production side prior to the enactment of the
Act and establishment of the Board. Further the agency has been able to create
at least 50, 000 jobs within this period.
He also talked
about capacity development, both in terms of skill and asset, by the local oil
companies, and the increased domiciliation and domestication of operations. These,
he further stated, enhance job creation with overall positive impact on our
economy.
The Board
has established a $50m Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund. It would
drive research, commercialization of research breakthroughs, establishment of
research centres, and involvement in universities’ endowment.
The women
are also not left out in the workings of NCDMB. Engr. Wabote disclosed that the
board has a $50m special loan facility for women who are in the oil and gas
sector, as means of empowering them. A further facility of $30m Working Capital
Fund is also established by the Board for the local oil and gas service
companies to take advantage of. These two are managed by Nigerian import-Export
bank (NEXIM).
He stated
that the reason for the meeting with the Media Heads is to underscore the need
for the media leadership to understand the importance of the Nigerian content
to the national economy, and to advocate, through NCDMB example, for local
content implementation in all sectors of the economy. Covid-19, he further
added, has made everyone realize that every economy needs to develop local
capacities and capabilities, especially in the core sectors. Thus all hands
must be on the deck to push the case for implementation of local content.
The Executive
Secretary had some regrets about the online media. Some of them are undermining
Federal government’s good intention of bringing in technocrats and
professionals to serve as appointees through targeted and unwarranted attack
under the guise of investigative journalism. He advised the practitioners to
maintain the ethics of professionalism, stating that people depend on their
news and information.
Practitioners,
he goes further, must endeavour to win the trust of their audience, and not
fall for the temptation of propagating fake news and other malicious attacks. He
challenged the publishers and editors to weed out the bad eggs in the
profession, and our society generally.
The manager,
Corporate Communications, NCDMB, Esueme Dan Kikile, in his own remark, said
that the media practitioners are key partners in the implementation of the
NOGICD Act, with their role clearly
spelt out in section 70 (n) of the Nigerian Content legislation. He also sought
the support of the senior media practitioners to stem the incidence of Fake
news and libelous publications perpetrated by some media houses; assuring the practitioners
of the Board’s continuous support and partnership.