… to collaborate with N/Assembly on NC Act Amendment
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have put fundamentals in place for the attainment of the Nigerian Content 10-Year Roadmap, which would enable the nation to start reaping the full benefits of its oil and gas resources, with clear linkage to other sectors of the economy.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote stated this recently in Abuja at the Quarter 3 Media Engagement organized to inform stakeholders about its activities and achievements.
Listing the Board’s accomplishments under his two and half year tenure, Wabote stated that “one of the first framework we put resources into was in the development of Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap. The roadmap documents the short, medium, and long-term targets to increase Nigerian Content performance from 28% to 70% by 2027.
”The key rewards from the implementation of the 10-year roadmap are the creation of 300,000 jobs from industry activities and the retention of US$14bn in-country out of the US$20bn annual industry spend.”
He noted further that ”the 10-year-roadmap has five pillars namely: Technical Capability Development, Compliance and Enforcement, Enabling Business Environment, Organisation Capability and Sectorial and Regional Market Linkage. It has four enablers, namely Funding, Regulatory Environment, Collaboration and Stakeholders Engagement and Research and Development.”
On the Technical Capability pillar, Wabote said the Board ”moved the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS) from mere plans on paper to actual construction in two pilot locations – Odukpani in Cross River and Emeyal 1 in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State. Each of the parks will create employment for 2000 persons when they are fully operational and will spur manufacturing of critical oil and gas equipment, tools and spare parts close to oil fields.”
He noted that the Board is spearheading the Project 100 Initiative and 60 oil and gas start-ups have been identified and the Board is sponsoring the deployment of special interventions for their incubation, maturation and growth into world class service companies. This intervention would include capacity building, funding and access to market, he said.
He further confirmed that the Board has also commenced International Certification program for 20 marine personnel. ”The cadets are already on board foreign vessels and would stay for 12 months, which would qualify them to be awarded the Certificate of Competence (COC), with which they can work in the Nigerian waters and overseas. The program will address the deficit of trained cadets in the maritime and oil and gas industries and reduce the dependence on foreign personnel in the marine operations.”
The Executive Secretary also reported the Board’s provision of equity investment to catalyse the establishment of 5,000barrels per day modular refinery by Waltersmith Refining & Petrochemical Company Limited in Ibigwe, Imo State and in the 12,000barrels per day Hydroskimming Modular refinery by Azikel Petroleum Limited at Obunagha, Gbarain, Bayelsa State.
”The Waltersmith refinery is on track for completion in May 2020 while the Azikel Refinery would be completed in 2021. We expect about 300,000 liters of diesel daily in addition to various volumes of naphtha, kerosene, and fuel oil from Waltersmith while Azikel will produce about 1.5million litres or 50 trucks of petrol daily, including 170,000liters of diesel, and other products,” he added.
Both modular refinery projects have huge prospects for jobs creation, value retention, petroleum products availability and the development of in-country capability and they fit perfectly with our vision to serve as a catalyst for the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, he stated further.
On the second pillar, Compliance and Enforcement, the NCDMB boss said the Board had put in place seven companies to assist in carrying out specific and specialized monitoring and compliance functions in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry. The Board also deployed chartered accounting firms to carry out forensic audit of Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) remittances.
According to him, “the Forensic Audit started in November 2018 and has revealed huge amounts of non-remittances from operating and service companies. At the moment, some companies have owned up to their indebtedness and have started addressing their infractions. On the other hand, a few companies have remained recalcitrant. We have concluded plans to hand over such companies to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for prosecution.”
On the pillar for Enabling Business Environment, Wabote stated that the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) NCDMB signed with the Nigeria LNG, International Operating Companies under the aegis of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) have helped to shorten the NCDMB interface on the tendering cycle in the Oil and Gas Industry from 36 months to 9 nine months. He added that ”it has also enhanced broad compliance with the requirements of the Nigerian Content Act and led to significant reduction in the unit cost of oil production in Nigeria.
“During the last review held in May this year, major operating companies, including SPDC/SNEPCo, Chevron, Total E&P and First E&P all rated NCDMB very high on the implementation of the SLA.”
Dwelling on Funding, the Executive Secretary said NCDMB have disbursed a total of US$160m out of the US$200m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) to qualified firms, as part of our efforts to provide accessible credit for Nigerian oil and gas service companies and community contractors with single digit interest rate and one year moratorium.
He indicated that the Board was working to promote relevant and reliable data and statistics and have established a collaborative framework with National Bureau of Statistics. ”We intend to shortly commission specific data collection projects to counter some of the unverifiable data being bandied around our national discourse,” he added.
He also confirmed that the Board would collaborate closely with the 9th National Assembly to complete the amendment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, so as to extend it to key sectors like Power, Construction and Information Communication Technology.
He advised against the creation of multiple regulators of Local Content in Nigeria, noting that ”NCDMB can modify its templates to suit other sectors. In our view, this is the prudent way to expand and entrench local Content regime in Nigeria.”
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