By Yemie Adeoye
THE Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has ordered International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in the country to ensure the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content, NOGIC Act, or face immense pressure from the federal government.

The order is in a bid to save a significant proportion of the over $3.5 billion annual oil industry spends, with most of them domiciled outside the country,

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Mr. Earnest Nwapa, handed down the directive during the quarterly meeting of the board with IOC’s Chief Executives in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State recently.

He, however, appreciated the collaboration the companies had extended to the Board since the advent of the Act, and called for deeper collaboration through the understanding of the provisions of the Act.

According to him, the structured implementation of the NOGIC Act has been adjudged as effective by various stakeholders, such that managers of other key sectors of the economy have started to adopt the philosophy.

Development of

local capacity

He noted that the oil and gas industry can encourage the development of local capacity, ownership of equipments, utilisation of local facilities in the execution of jobs, thereby creating a revolution in the Nigerian economy.

Nwapa warned that unless the IOCs patronised local service companies and helped them build capacities with which to execute jobs in Nigeria and employ capable hands, they will continue to increase the pressure on the multinationals to employ them.

He regretted that most the companies judge their Nigerian Content performance by the volume of contracts they award to Nigerian entities, whereas most of such jobs get executed abroad and with tools leased from foreign companies, thereby exporting most of the spend.

He also rued the low patronage of indigenous marine vessels by the IOCs, noting that the industry spends approximately $4bn annually, but nearly 80 per cent of the spend end up abroad.

The industry, he said, should commit to the Vessel Replacement Strategy developed by the Board, which will see Nigerian-owned Anchor Handling Tug Supply, AHTS, and Platform Supply Vessels, PSVs, replace foreign owned vessels.

To ensure the success of the Offshore Rigs Acquisition Strategy, Equipment Components Manufacturing Requirements and the Establishment of Line Pipe Mills policies, Nwapa challenged operators to brace up to the 2015 target.

Furthermore, he criticized the incidence in the industry where companies sack experienced Nigerians who have built capacity over the years, while at the same time making applications for expatriate quota positions to the Board, under the guise that there is lack of experienced Nigerians to occupy certain positions.

He said the proposed Engagement Model with Ministries and Departments will help address policy inconsistencies and common issues impacting the implementation of Local Content in the industry.

The committee is proposed to be made up of the ministries of Petroleum, Transport, Finance, Trade and Investment, and Interior.

In his comments, the Managing Director of Addax, Mr. Cormelis Zegelaar, gave the assurance that his company will support the policy objectives being pursued by the NCDMB.

He said, “We are adding smaller vessels and we should be able to ensure that a significant part are Nigerian owned. We are already using pipeline barges operated by Nigerian contractors which we will support to ensure that they work. Capacity building is something we should improve on. We already discussed this at our head office and our people are positive about creating internal capability that will allow us to do more work in Nigeria.”

Similarly, the Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Andrew Fawthrop, commended the efforts of the Board, and charged government to provide the necessary infrastructure that will support the growth of Nigerian Content.

Also, the Managing Director of ExxonMobil, Mr. Mark Ward, reiterated his management’s commitment to growing Nigerian Content in line with the Board’s policies for collective interests.