By Yemie Adeoye
IN an effort to properly manage and coordinate the Nigerian Content Fund, the Federal government has decided to enter into partnership with the local finance sector in a move seen as strategic to the Nigerian content development.

Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Mr Earnest Nwakpa who disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos yesterday stated that the move is a demonstration of the federal government’s seriousness to fund capacity in_country.

“This is a demonstration of Government’s seriousness to fund capacity here so that Nigerians can participate fully in the operations of the oil and gas industry, and one of the key factors for doing that intervention is the absence of capacity, hence we have to do this to meet target, and we cant go anywhere without funds.
Now the Act has made a provision for the Nigerian Content Development Fund and we want that fund to succeed.  One of the fundamental things we must do is to collaborate with experts in that area. Now we are talking to the executives of banks to ensure that they embrace this fund completely, because if they don’t embrace it, the international community would also not embrace it.

The industry would support the fund and attract, first and foremost the Nigerian Banking industry, and international finance organizations.  We are very happy with the corporation and assurances we have received today, the assurances from the bank executives that they are going to work with us would create a robust framework that’ll make this fund succeed and bring capacity in_country so that Nigerians can come together”.

Speaking on the source of the Fund he said that “the fund is coming out of one percent of every contract that is awarded in the industry, which is fallout of the bill that Mr. President signed into law.

So one percent of every contract awarded in the industry would be paid into that fund and it will accumulate, but like I said during the session it is not just the accumulation that is important but the commitment by law that this fund would continue to grow and accumulate.

That is why we believe that this sector can leverage to create a very robust facility that would be used to create specific targeted capacity in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Aside the bankers we are also looking at the Insurance groups, managers of pension funds as well as legal services, all of these is like a contractual kind of thing, we’ve already engaged service providers who would need the fund.

We have also engaged the operators who would bring out the work and insist on drawing down, because this amount would be drawn at source, so we’re bringing the International Oil Companies (IOC’s) into the picture, they are all in support and they understand the contents of the law, of course you know this is a task of capacity building and you have to spend money to build capacity”.

Nwakpa further said that the main challenges the Board is being faced is “getting the structure in place fast enough so that we can roll it out, also getting the player to believe that this Fund is a reality, and there are challenges with how to ensure that the money taken is properly used for the purpose because that is our Job to ensure that there are proper structures that would create the necessary checks and balances, and like I said before the fund would be managed by a professional entity that has a global rating and best practices.

The main purpose of this session is to put a specialist into the play, so that Nigerians who have the interest, and who have the specialization would design a structure that would not rely only on this one percent, but that would leverage and attract funds from all over the world to boost it.  I can speak for the one percent Nigerian Content Fund and I know that it is something that has been put there because the need exists, and there is work to feed that need.

This is not just a speculative arrangement, there is a need for boosting capacity in Nigeria because the law says we must do certain things in Nigeria.

Without having facilities and equipment owned by Nigerians who are operating in Nigeria you cant do those things and it costs money to those things, and I will also tell you that every country in world have had to support its local industry and Nigeria.  Thus a structure would be created to manage the funds.

The structure would be designed and it is ongoing now, not for easy access but for access for people who are qualified to get it.  Our expectations and objectives of setting up this meeting is to ensure that we also bring the banks on board, because we can not even invite them as they don’t know what we are doing, now we have given them a vision and the Governments intention, we have asked them to go and structure something and come back to us.

We have taken away the fact that they are 100 percent in support of what we are doing and that they have said that this fund will work properly and that they would come back to us with more ideas on how it would be running in other jurisdiction and what they need to see before they can participate fully”. He enthused.