NCDMB Achieves 83% Success Rate in Advancing Nigerian Content Initiatives
By Prosper Okoye
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says that 83% of the 96 initiatives aimed at increasing Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry to 70% by the year 2027 have been achieved.
The NCDMB Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, said in his keynote address on Tuesday at the ongoing 12th Practical Nigerian Content Forum in Yenagoa that “focus is now shifted to the remaining initiatives that require some heavy lifting to bring into fruition.”
Wabote explained that the board launched a 10-year strategic roadmap in 2017 with five pillars and four enablers, resulting in the growth of Nigerian registered industry operators from 53 in 2018 to 114 in 2023, a 100% increase. Additionally, service companies rose from 8,000 to 11,000, and individual registrations jumped from 140,000 to nearly 400,000.
Wabote said the certification of Nigerian content plans increased from 178 in 2022 to 255 in 2023, while the approved Nigerian content compliance certificates dropped from 197 in 2022 to 168 in 2023.
“We believe the higher-certified NC plans in 2023 will soon translate to approved contracts with Nigerian Content Compliance Certificates as the industry gets accustomed to the policy directions of the new government,” he said.
Wabota also stated that a new Service Level Agreement (SLA) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with industry operators and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited to shorten the contracting cycle to a maximum period of six months.
Wabote said that the expatriate quota (EQ) has reduced in the last five years. “A total of 889 EQs were approved in 2022, while 179 EQs were rejected. This year, a total of 1,156 EQs were approved at the end of November, compared to 889 approved in 2022. 328 EQs were compared; 179 were rejected last year. The expatriate quota approval has been trending down from up until 2021, when it started an upward trend largely due to the post-COVID-19 business recovery, newly sanctioned projects such as Train-7, and the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 202,” he added.
Speaking on the “Technical Capability Development pillar of the roadmap,” Wabote said that the in-country fabrication capacity had increased from 60,000 metric tonnes per year to 250,000 metric tonnes.
“Under this pillar, we have transformed two of our portfolios, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS), from bare land to industrial parks to support in-country manufacturing and assembly of equipment and input materials required for exploration and production activities.
“While these two NOGAPS sites are essentially ready for commissioning, we are keen to operationalize them by having manufacturing activities in place, which are scheduled for the first half of next year.
“A total of 37 applications have been received for the allocation of service plots and/or shop floors so far, and the process of allocating serviced plots to manufacturers is in top gear. So far, service plots and shop floors have been allocated to six companies.
“At the moment, we have reached an advanced stage in our review of the business plans of intending tenants, and another batch of allocations will soon be made,” he said.
On the strategic roadmap, Wabote said the $50 million fund was dedicated to co-finance industry research and development activities.
“The Research and Development Fund led to the development of the Amal Tech Smoke Alarm Detector Facility that we will commission next week in Abuja.
“We created Centres of Excellence for research and development in six Nigerian universities as well as the Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre to incubate innovative ideas and startups. Seventeen start-up companies successfully concluded training at the NCDMB Technology Incubator.
