Bolaji Ajala

In a bid to enhance capacity development, the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, said that the agency has drawn out strategies to build in- country capacity in Nigeria.

The board also said it has adopted an implementation model designed to leverage on the opportunities of the Content Act, to deliver on the aspirations of Government to increase in-country capacity.

The hint was dropped by the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Earnest Nwapa, while delivering a paper titled, “The Impact of Nigerian Content Act on Indigenous Capacity Development: Journey so far” at a one-day technical conference organized by journalists in Lagos recently.

The Executive Secretary further said that the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, NOGIC Act has provided the platform to build capacity and monitor the industry for qualitative Nigeria Content growth.

Elaborating on the strategies adopted Nwapa, who was represented by a General Manager of the Board, Mr. Wole Akinyosoye, said that “the board has made it a priority to encourage the establishment of at least two deepwater ports in order to put the country in better stead to effectively perform big ticket jobs in the country.”

He said that the facilities would provide opportunities for high level in country operations like FPSO integration, ship building and maintenance, and open opportunities for heavy duty fabrications as manufactured equipment could be easily transported from inland to deep offshore fields.

“The earlier challenge in building the facilities is due to the fact that the field development contracts for the discovered offshore fields were already finalized before the NOGIC Act,” he explained.

Nwapa said that building of in country pipe mill capacity was a vital area listed for urgent attention as soon as the Act came into force, adding that the Minister of Petroleum Resources at the inception of the board, mandated that it should ensure that three to four pipe mills were established in Nigeria by 2014, in order to meet the industry transportation demands and services.

Accordingly, he said the board is in talks with Jiangsu Yulong, a Chinese steel pipe mill to open shop establish in Nigeria, adding that the project will boost steel pipe production by 250,000 tonnes per annum, in line with the objective to achieving full capacity in steel pipe production within the shortest possible time.

Noting that equipment ownership is central to credible Nigeria content policy, Nwapa further said that the board will give exclusive considerations to indigenous service providers on ownership of equipment, while a draft procedure is currently being discussed with some service companies.

Furthermore, he said the NCDMB has developed human capacity model which relies on the training of young Nigerians for every project, adding that over 1,600 engineers were trained through collaborative efforts with the PTDF, and that another 150 Nigerians have also undergone project attachments for practical experience in fabrication yards and engineering design firms.

The NCDMB boss also noted that the board has identified the need to tackle the challenge in finding placements for applicants on industrial training attachment especially students studying petroleum engineering and geology with a view to ensuring proper honing of classroom knowledge with proper work environment.

He asserted that the board understands that a plan for qualitative growth of manpower in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry would require a comprehensive overhaul of the expatriate quota administration.

He, however, said that the Act has vested the board with the responsibility on expatriate quota administration for the industry, and it has issued a guideline to operators and service providers on the process for establishing expatriate positions and understudies.

In this regard, Nwapa said the board is partnering with the Federal Ministry of Interior, to streamline quota approvals for the industry in line with the provisions of the law, adding that “the law recognizes the special situation of the industry on quota administration and the board would not relent on reminding that it is in the best interest of the industry and the economy to follow the legal process.”

Accordingly, he noted that capacity building and job creation are vital to the development and sustenance of the Nigerian content initiative, promising that the board intends to build on achievements of the past year to fully harness the abundant local manpower potentials for the benefit of the industry.