The
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe on
Monday applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
GCFR, for announcing three Presidential Executive
Orders directed at incentivizing the Nigerian oil and gas
industry, encouraging new investments in the
sector, reducing contracting costs and timelines, and
promoting cost efficiency in local content requirements.
The Executive Orders are the Oil
and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, ETC) Order
2024;Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements,
2024 (EO 41); and Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum
Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 (EO 42).
Speaking at
the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Executive
Secretary stated that the policy directives had reinforced the
implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development
(NOGICD) Act and codified the Service Level Agreements (SLA), which
the NCDMB first introduced in May 2017 to
fast-track approvals for the Nigeria LNG Limited Train 7
project, before expanding it to the entire
industry after signing a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC
Ltd) and five international oil-producing companies in September 2023.
Engr.
Ogbe clarified that the Presidential Executive Orders
did not whittle down the powers of the NCDMB or abrogate the
schedule of the NOGICD Act. Instead, according to him,
the Executive Order 41 mandates the Board to ensure the
patronage of local companies with domiciled proven
capacities and capabilities to achieve cost competitiveness and
project delivery within schedule.
He equally pointed
out that Executive Order 42 reemphasized NCDMB’s obligation
to fast-track approval processes as required by the SLA and section
23 of the NOGICD Act, which mandates the Board to
review projects’ documentation within 10 days and advise the
concerned operating company.
He assured
that the Board would comply with the terms of the Presidential Executive
Orders, insisting that the Board had always been pragmatic with its
implementation of the NOGICD Act and mindful of the cost competitiveness of
projects and schedules.
He maintained that the
objectives of the Executive Orders and the
SLAs were directed to shorten the oil
industry’s contracting cycle to six months or
less, engender speedy development of new projects, contribute to
increased oil production, and improve the national economy, expressing
delight that President Tinubu had put his stamp of authority on the noble
objectives of the SLAs.
He commended
Mr. President for acknowledging the giant strides recorded in Nigerian Content
development, particularly the impressive capacities built
by local oil and gas service companies in key areas of the industry
and the substantial benefits that had accrued to the Nigerian economy and her
citizens through local content implementation.
The NCDMB boss assured
that the agency would continue to serve as a business
enabler and maintain the recognition conferred by the Presidential
Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), which awarded the
Board the most efficient agency amongst all Federal Government’s MDAs
in 2022 and the PLATINUM rating by the Bureau for
Public Service Reforms in recognition of the self-imposed reforms of
Board’s processes.