The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has recovered about 100million dollars of undisputed obligations from the Third-Party Forensic Audit of remittances of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) between years 2010 to 2017.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote revealed this recently at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference held in Abuja.
Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act stipulates the deduction of one percent of the value of contracts awarded in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry and remittance into the NCDF. The Fund is used for funding the development of Nigerian Content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The Executive Secretary also announced that the disputed obligations were being closed out and the Third-Party Forensic Audit of remittances for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 would begin by the fourth (4th) Quarter of 2021 to conclude the backlog of remittances by oil and gas companies.
He further stated that the Board launched the NCDF Remittance Portal in 2020 hosted on the NOGIC JQS, to plug loopholes and make it easy for oil companies that genuinely want to remit the statutory deductions, hinting that more than 80 percent of operators and service providers have migrated to the platform.
Giving an update on the Board’s projects, Wabote confirmed that the partnership with Waltersmith Petroman Ltd have resulted in the delivery of 5,000barrels per day modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State and the 2,500barrels per day Duport Modular Refinery would be ready for commissioning next quarter in Edo State.
“By the next NOG Conference in 2022, it will be the turn of the 2,000barrels per day Atlantic Refinery in Bayelsa state,” he said.
He added that “our oil and gas industrial parks in Cross River and Bayelsa states are getting to the completion stages. Each is sitting on 25hectares of land fully dedicated to the local manufacturing of oil and gas components and other products for the linkage sectors.”
With the declaration of Year 2020 as the Year of Gas and the Years 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Gas, the Executive Secretary noted that the Board had racked up investment partnerships and even created a 10hectares Gas Hub in Polaku hosting gas-based infrastructure and facilities.
He added, “our partnerships in the gas sector have unlocked 5,600metric tonnes of LPG storage facilities, annual production of 1.2million LPG composite cylinders, and infrastructure and facilities for processing of 840MMscfd of gas across 13 states of the federation, namely Bayelsa, Delta, Edo Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau, Gombe, Jigawa states and the Federal Capital, Abuja.”
He revealed that the Board was keen to seal more partnerships to process and utilize the abundant gas reserves in the country to enhance the realization of the Mr. President’s declaration on gas.
He also touched on the Board’s Nigerian Content 10-year Strategic Roadmap which is aimed at achieving 70 percent Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry by the year 2027. He stated that “We are on the 4th year of implementation of the strategic initiatives which have taken us to 35 percent Nigerian Content.”
The NCDMB’s boss congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari, the leadership of the National Assembly and the Hon Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva on passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the National Assembly.
He expressed optimism that the industry would shift deliberations to realise the various opportunities contained in the bill, with a view to take the Nigerian oil and gas industry to the next level.
