Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB Engr. Simbi Wabote has commended NigerDock on his local content policies implementation in the country.

Wabote made this known during a facility tour with management of the board and representatives of International Oil Companies, IOCs to the company’s facility at Snake Island Integrated Free Zone in Lagos.

According to him, “NigerDock is an example of some of the local content policies we have adopted. In the pass, I’m sure none of you visited this yard but while I was speaking to the chairman of the group, he told me that before they came here, they had twenty drivers and two cars, and those two cars were not working but today we went round and saw the impact of local content on these facilities.

“Despite the economic challenges in the country, the company is still keeping fate. I am overly impressed,” he said.

Wabote added: “It is my first time of visiting the island. I decided to visit and see what the company is doing.

With me here are top management of the board and representatives of IOCs companies except for Exxon Mobil. This visit will give them the opportunity to talk about they’ve seen.”

He also said that operators in the Nigerian oil and gas industry has increased their compliance level from less than three percent when the NCDMB act was enacted in 2010 to 30 percent.

“Before 2010, the local content attainment was about three per cent because the country focused more on the revenue they get from selling oil and the tax they get out of that revenue, but with the advent of local content, we felt all the money that was left on the table, we needed to retain some of it in-country hence the push to carry out most of those activities that hitherto were exported out of the country to happened here,” said.

He attributed the current increased drive for project design in-country to enforcement of local content law. From front-end to detail engineering design, he said operators have brought back design to Nigeria.

This initiative according to him has led to the establishment of a lot of design companies to deliver value to the sector and enabling IOCs the various set up their own design team within the country.