By Prince Okafor

Following the implementation of  Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act in the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for Nigeria LNG Train-7 Project, Nigeria may have saved $2.0 billion.

Disclosing this, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),  Mr Simbi Wabote, also noted that the focus of Nigerian Content implementation was not Nigerianisation, rather it encouraged domiciliation of capacities and promotion of foreign direct investments and homegrown investments.

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Wabote made this disclosure during a workshop held for Judiciary officers virtually.

The workshop gathered over 117 participants, including Justices of the Supreme Court, Appeal Court, National Industrial Court, Federal High Court and external solicitors.

According to him, the ample evidence had proven that sustainable Local Content practice reduced the cost of oil and gas projects in addition to creating job opportunities and economic prosperity.

He cited an example with the LNG Train-7 EPC bid, where Saipem Contracting Nigeria and its consortium, won the contract with lower bid, leveraging on 50 years commitment to local content and investments in Nigeria.

In his words: ”In the concluded LNG Train 7 project contract awarded, the difference in price between Saipem that had established itself in Nigeria and the second lowest bidder coming from outside the country was $2 billion.

“That’s a huge sum of money that this country would have lost if not for the drive for the development of local content.

“The other consortium had no footprint in the country and it proposed to put extra $2 billion on the back of the project to develop local capacity to execute the project.

“This is evidence of cost savings associated with the development of local content.”

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, described the implementation of local content policies across the globe as an apparatus through which citizens of oil-rich countries derive value from crude oil resources.

Vanguard