Nigeria Content Online

The Nigerian
Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and human resources
managers of multi-national oil companies yesterday met to streamline
guidelines for expatriate quota applications and deployment in the
country’s oil and gas industry.

The meeting was to
provide a forum for the managers to understand the guidelines by the
Board for expatriate quota application, to ensure full compliance with
the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act.

The meeting was
also to shed some light on a section of the Act which gives the
operator/project promoter room to retain a maximum of five percent of
management positions, as may be approved by the Board, as expatriate
positions to take care of investors’ interests.

Ernest Nwapa, the
NCDMB executive secretary, told participants that the guidelines were
applicable to both international operating companies and their service
counterparts, warning that the Board would frown at a situation where
the companies continue to use suppliers and contactors who flout these
laws by bringing in expatriates without due approvals.

The Nigerian
Content Act and guidelines hold operators responsible for the failure
or otherwise of their contractors to comply, adding that the Board
would not prequalify erring contractors and suppliers to continue
providing services in the industry.

On the recent
upsurge of labour agitations against the influx of expatriates into the
industry, Mr. Nwapa assured that the implementation of the guidelines
would address the concerns of the oil industry workers’ unions in a
structured and sustained manner.

He added that the
Board was working with the Ministry of Interior on expatriate quota
management, manpower development initiatives, and creation of
employment opportunities for Nigerians in the oil and gas industry.

Charity begins at home

He reminded
Nigerians who hold senior positions in the oil and gas industry of
their responsibility to support the Federal Government’s efforts at
full implementation of the provisions of the Act.

The guidelines
issued by NCDMB require that all companies applying for expatriate
quotas must provide proof that the positions applied for have been
advertised in at least four major Nigerian newspapers and two
international newspapers, to establish that there is no qualified
Nigerian that can do the job.

Besides, those
companies are also required to notify the NCDMB of the receipt of
applications, planned interview dates, and results of the interviews
for each vacancy advertised, as well as proof that no qualified
Nigerian had been found fit to occupy the positions.

Similar requirements are applicable on the extension of existing expatriate quotas operating companies in the industry.

Emmanuel Ihenacho,
the Interior minister, had, during a meeting with the NCDMB Board last
month, said the government would adopt strategies initiated on
expatriate quota management.

At the end of the meeting, the NCDMB received assurances of the
industry’s commitment to comply with the stipulated guidelines, while
the managers pledged to study the provisions before coming up with
strategies that would guarantee full compliance by all industry players.