Nigeria Content Online

It is now mandatory
for all international oil and gas companies operating in the country to
submit their Nigerian content development plans to the federal
government on a quarterly basis to facilitate adequate planning and
budgeting.

Ernest Nwapa,
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board (NCDMB), said none of the operating joint venture partners with
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has complied, so
government will soon wield the big stick against them.

Mr. Nwapa, spoke at
a workshop for journalists on the provisions of the recently unveiled
Nigerian Content Act as part of activities to commemorate 100 days of
the introduction of the monitoring board to the petroleum industry.

“We have resolved
to ensure regular monitoring review of the local content values of the
international oil companies,” Nwapa said.

Though he said the
monitoring board would not depend solely on data provided from the oil
majors to know their content values, Mr. Nwapa said the board would
regularly collaborate with other government agencies to develop
community-based manufacturing capacity, and for the training and
certification of seafarers and development of shipyards.

“We have templates
now. We do not depend on the oil companies figures for Nigerian Content
values. We have independent people that work on this, although the IOCs
are still given forms to fill based on their various content values,”
he explained.

Commendable directive

Lola Amao, chief
executive, Lonadek Consultants, a Lagos-based oil and gas industry
consultancy firm, said on phone on Wednesday that the directive on
submission of plans, quarterly, was commendable, particularly as it
will be beneficial to both the Board and the indigenous firms in their
planning.

“The arrangement
will help the Board incorporate the submitted plans of the companies
into its overall budget, particularly in relation to how much the
companies intend to spend on specific activities and programmes to
develop the policy,” Mrs. Amao said.

“Besides, it will
show the indigenous contractor where investment opportunities that are
available for the provision of their services, to help them take
advantage of. It will help strategic planning and development of
capacity to provide quality industry services.” On the importance of
the Nigerian Content Act, Mr. Nwapa said the signing into law by Mr.
President shortly after its passage by the National Assembly was in
response to the yearnings of discerning Nigerians as well as a
demonstration of the commitment of the present administration to
squarely address the longstanding issues of lack of local capacity and
the near absence of meaningful indigenous participation in the oil and
gas industry.

The issue of Nigerian Content, the monitoring board boss said, is no
longer new considering that the board has sufficient domain knowledge
to guide its successful implementation of the provisions of the
enabling law, which, according to him, was developed with high level of
industry participation in the legislative process.