By KUNLE KALEJAYE

Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have called on the industry regulators to share intelligence and synergize in order to ensure effective implementation of the Federal Government’s local content policy.

The call was made last week at the maiden Nigerian Content Roundtable with the theme: ‘The significance of quality assurance and standards’, organized by a non-governmental organization, Borderless.

Speaking at the roundtable, the Deputy Director, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Mrs Oluremi Ayeni, noted that specific agencies are established to regulate specific sector. She argued that the name of SON is always being mentioned when irregularities were noticed because of the word ‘standards’ in SON’s name.

According to her, “What puts SON on the spotlight is the word ‘standards’. Many Nigerians do not realize that there are specific agencies for specific sectors. We have Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), for the entire oil and gas sector, while the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), strictly regulates implementation and ensures compliance with the local content policy.

“The challenge here is that may be there should be more synergy among the regulators in areas of sharing information in order to promote the significance of quality assurance and standards in all sectors.

“For instance, there has been a shift in focus from offshore explorations to deep offshore explorations. There is the need for capacity building and synergy between SON and NCDMB.”

Ayeni concluded that since training is pivotal to capacity building, SON may begin accreditation of training centers in Nigeria, while training providers should aim at being accredited.

Another discussant Mr. Adeniyi Adekoya, stressed the importance of training, saying, “Oil majors have been bringing universities from abroad to train Nigerians at the entry level in a bid to keep the local content standards.”

The Conveyer of the roundtable and Head, Borderless, Mr. Tunde Kusamotu, said that the motivation behind the roundtable is to identify the hiccups affecting the full implementation of the local content policy and to proffer possible solutions.

The Nigerian Content Act was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2010, to increase indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry which is predominantly dominated by the International Oil Companies (IOCs).