NCDMB disburses $350m from $300m NCI Fund
Sopuruchi Onwuka
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has disbursed significant $350 million or N157.5 billion to various oil service and community contractors involved in providing goods and services to the petroleum industry.
The disbursed fund amounting to the total value of loans advanced to mainly indigenous service providers in the petroleum industry is princely $50 million or N22.5 billion greater than the source $300 million or N135 billion Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund originally mapped out for the purpose.
Bank of Industry (BOI) which manages the NCI Fund on behalf of NCDMB declared on Monday at the 2021 Practical Nigerian Content Awards in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, that the NCDMB has far exceeded targets both in creating value for the fund and also in facilitating local capacity development in the petroleum industry operations.
Managing Director of the bank, Mr Olukayode Pitan, whose sponsor’s remarks were delivered at the event, explained that NCDMB has maintained the highest level of accountability and transparency in the management of the NCI Fund.
He added that appreciation in the value of funds available to oil industry contractors under the scheme was achieved through the high level of discipline by the NCDMB which, according to Mr Pitan, has not only refrained from profit taking but also ploughed back proceeds into the pool to make more funds available for borrowers.
Mr Pitan pointed out that whereas the BOI manages a vast portfolio of intervention funds, the NCI Fund has proved the fastest in impact, highest in loan performance and most rapid in organic growth.
The Oracle Today reports that the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund is managed by BOI on behalf of the NCDMB.
The fund facilitates NCDMB’s strategic objectives increasing indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry, build local capacity and competencies, and promote the growth and development of Nigerian Content in activities connected with sectors of the Nigerian oil and gas Industry.
It is also designed to deepen the creation of linkages to other sectors of the national economy and boost industry contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and address persistent funding challenges that have hindered capacity and growth of local service providers in oil and gas.
Other goals set for the fund is to facilitate the growth of community based companies in the upstream oil and gas sector, spur productivity and job creation in the Oil and Gas Industry, and attract investment capital into the petroleum industry and boost contribution of the sector to overall national economic growth.
Under an arrangement with the BOI, the NCDMB provides different levels of dollar denominated loans to beneficiaries at single digit interest rate of 8.0 percent for other contractors and 5.0 percent for host community contractors. Loan tenures are mainly five years.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr Simbi Wabote, commended BOI on efficient management of the NCI fund, saying that growth in the value of the fund was achieved through prudent management and reinvestment of proceeds.
He explained that the 10th anniversary of the PNC Summit expresses the emotive force that pushes the agency in expanding frontiers and exceeding set goals.
He pointed at the development catalysis introduced by the presence of NCDMB in Bayelsa State, adding that the annual PNC Summit has boosted patronage for the state’s tourism industry. He said the NCDMB has become a development partner to the Bayelsa State government just by its presence.
The Oracle Today reports that three awards in different categories were given to companies that sttod out in local content contributions.
Oilfield services multinational, Schlumberger, received the PNC Awards for technology and Knowledge Transfer; Coleman Cables Limited received the PNC Awards for manufactured goods and services; and TotalEnergies Nigeria received the PNC Award on human capacity development.
