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  • Oil & Gas - Industry Report
  • Updated: Jan 31, 2023
NCDMB Considering Extending Local Content Development Suppor

NCDMB Considering Extending Local Content Development Supports Beyond Nigeria

Being ever ready to deepen local capacity building, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is considering leveraging its rich content development heritage to support other African nations in developing and implementing local content policies as a strategy for improving indigenous participation and value optimization from hydrocarbons and mineral resources.

The NCDMB's foundation was laid in 2001 with the former President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, inaugurating the Presidential Committee on Local Content in the Oil and Gas Industry. General Obasanjo then mandated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to drive the policy and set certain targets.

It was not until 2010 that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) was fully established for operations by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. 

This is how the NCDMB is vested with the mandate to make procedures that will guide, monitor, coordinate, and implement the provisions of the NOGICD Act signed into law on April 22, 2010. 

Amongst the key functions of the NCDMB are:

  • To set guidelines and minimum content levels for project-related activities across the oil and gas value chain.
  • To engage in targeted capacity-building interventions that would deepen indigenous capabilities- Human Capital Development, Infrastructure & Facilities, Manufactured Materials & Local Supplier Development.

NCDMB Entertains Delegates from Some African States

In a recent development, the Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote gave the assurance to support interested African nations on Monday at the Board’s liaison office, Abuja, when he received a delegation from the Ministry of Commerce & Mines, Republic of Guinea, who had come to understudy Nigeria’s Local Content policy.

Wabote recalled how other African nations such as Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and others have benefitted from Nigeria’s approach to local content matters, promising that the Board would continue to provide similar support to any interested African nation that requests its assistance.

He added that the Board’s objective is to extend local content practice across the content, in line with the Sectorial and Regional Market Linkage Pillar of the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap.

He described the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFA) as a revolutionary agreement that promises broad collaboration among African nations and also deepens trade relationships among the 1.3 billion Africans, helping to create investment and job opportunities.

Mr Wabote stressed the need for African countries to consider the comparative advantages of member nations and take advantage of capacities that have already been developed in other countries, rather than replicating similar facilities.

The Executive Secretary went further to advise the Guinean delegation to remain committed to the implementation of local content policy, describing it as a long journey, which would require strong political will from their leaders and the development of tools, processes, communications strategies, and stakeholder engagements.

He reminded them about how Nigeria introduced the policy in 2010 when the local content level was less than 5 per cent with the then local supply chain lacking the capacity to execute critical projects in the country, which resulted in most of the opportunities going to expatriate personnel and companies.

He informed that the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and the focussed implementation in the past 12 years have resulted in the growth of in-country capacity to 54 per cent at the end of 2022.

The Executive Director of the Bourse for Subcontracting and Partnering in Guinea (BSTP), Mr Saifoulaye Balde, as the leader of the Guinean delegation, expressed the team's desire to spend days with the NCDMB team to learn about the Board’s implementation models and pick up ideas they can implement in their jurisdiction.

He noted that Guinea had a booming mining sector, which is dominated by expatriates, with little local content input.

He conveyed his country’s desire to increase indigenous participation in their nation’s mining sector and deepen value addition.

Balde underscored the history of cooperation between Nigeria and Guinea and hailed Nigeria for becoming a reference point in Local Content in Africa and beyond.

General Manager, Planning, Research and Development, NCDMB, Alhaji Abdulmalik Halilu stated that the Guinean team would be taken through the Board’s core operations and models in research and development, projects certification, capacity building, and funding.

He noted that the essence is for the delegation to identify successful programs of the Board that can be transferred and implemented successfully in their jurisdiction.
 

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