NCDMB offers Nigerian hub for African content incubation

NCDMB offers Nigerian hub for African content incubation

Sopuruchi Onwuka

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has invited African manufacturers and petroleum industry players to take advantage of the time tested Nigerian operating environment to understudy, groom and build capacity for local execution of industry jobs.

Executive Secretary, Engr Simbi Wabote, told industry delegates at the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Conference (SAIPEC) in Lagos that Nigeria’s growth path in the petroleum industry and local content development now offers a highway for accelerated local capacity development for the continent.

He however stressed that the ripple effect of the ongoing local capacity boom in the continent requires strong collaboration for sustainable spread.

Engr Wabote whose NCDMB signed a technical partnership pact with the National Content Monitoring Committee of Senegal (CNSCL) for the coordination and supervision of the development and implementation of the local content strategies in the Senegalese oil and gas sector made it clear that such collaboration has become crucial for optimum value derivation from the hydrocarbon industry.

He noted that collaborations that deliver the right values leverage key infrastructures that provide the congenial environment for operating efficiency, adding that such infrastructure are already being developed in Nigeria to make it unnecessary for African companies to seek investment havens abroad.

Engr Wabote cited the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Company as an example of facilities that would “afford Nigeria and other African countries the partnership opportunities for sourcing petroleum products and fertilizer.”

He also pointed at other critical infrastructure like the Lekki Free Trade Zone; the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI-MCI) fabrication yard for integration of offshore oil and gas production as well as sundry marine vessels; the West African Gas Pipeline and the ongoing Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas transmission pipeline.

Engr Wabote specifically invited African players to take the opportunity in the seven Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks (NOGAPS) being facilitated and developed by the NCDMB to create manufacturing havens in the country. Two of the NOGAP facilities are due for commissioning in the year.

He invited business organisations from the sub-Saharan region interested in the manufacture of equipment, components and spares relevant to oil and gas operations to apply for spaces in the industrial parks at Emeyal II in Bayelsa State, and Odukpani, Cross River State.

With regards to funding, he expressed satisfaction for progress made towards establishing an Africa Energy Bank to address financing challenges in delivering Africa’s oil and gas projects in an era of declining investments in fossil fuels.

He also drummed hard on human capacity development, noting its importance “to the successful implementation of local content as every intervention will be powered by humans – either through intellect, skill set or both.”

Engr Wabote told African industry delegates at the event that research and development remain pivotal to successful implementation of local content.  

The Oracle Today report the NCDMB as proposing strategies that would break down barriers and promote cross-border collaboration amongst governments and businesses. And the proposition comes amid global concerns over energy security and a regional resolve on collaboration to deepen local content.

Engr Wabote hinted that there is urgent need for peer review mechanisms, and sharing of experiences and ideas on industry sustainability and growth.

And as part of the collaboration building effort, the NCDMB signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Technical Secretary of the National Content Monitoring Committee of Senegal (ST-CNSCL), the agency that is responsible for the coordination and supervision of the development and implementation of the local content strategies in the Senegalese oil and gas sector. 

Under the terms of the MoU, NCDMB will offer ST-CNSCL strategic advice and guidance in the areas of laws, frameworks, knowledge exchange, procedures for baseline study, data collection on capacities that exist in Senegal, design of strategic plan for local content implementation in Senegal and other capacity development initiatives.

Speaking further, Wabote drew the attention of sub-Saharan Africa’s Ministers of Petroleum to the relatively high crude oil price levels and upswing potentials experienced from 2021 to date and the geo-political dynamics at play, highlighting the challenge for African oil and gas service providers “to partake in the development and maintenance of oil fields,” which could be best facilitated through a deliberate action plan.

In his paper entitled “Sub-Saharan Africa Local Content Collaboration Strategies,” the Executive Secretary said the action plan under consideration centres on legal framework, funding, infrastructure, human capacity development, and research and development. He equally highlighted initiatives and grounds covered by the Nigerian Government through the NCDMB in local content development and how other African oil producers could benefit from these.

A legal framework, as he pointed out, is an enabling legal or regulatory framework, a basic requirement “to drive and develop local content sustainability.” That would be the critical instrument “to forge a collaborative Africa local content strategy.” That requirement, he observed, has been taken care of by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement  (AfCFTA), which he noted “created the world’s largest free trade area by integrating 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries, with the objective of tapping into a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $3 trillion.”

Engr Simbi was profusely thankful to the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) for “graciously hosting and dutifully organizing this auspicious event year after year.” In his concluding remarks he expressed the hope that the Association would look into “how to develop and showcase indigenous technology at SAIPEC.”