05 December 2014, LAGOS – The Federal Government,has declared that with effect from January 2015, maritime vessels purchased overseas without inputs from local ship builders in Nigeria will not be allowed to operate in Nigeria.
This, according to Mr. Ernest Nwapa, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, is to develop local capacity in line with the local content initiative of the Federal Government.Nwapa, stated this at the Loadout celebration of the Domestic Supply Obligation (DSP) Meren Gas Gathering Compression Platform (GGCP) and Sonam Non-Associated Gas Well-head Platform projects fabricated by Nigerdock at the Snake Island, Lagos.
This new law, Nwapa said, becomes necessary in light of the fact that a number of Nigerian companies, such as Nigerdock, have developed the capacity to manufacture high quality vessels that meet international standards.
He said, “From January 2015, companies seeking to buy marine vessels that will work in the Nigerian territory, must submit the Nigerian Content plan of the purchase, so that we determine which part of the vessels would be manufactured in Nigeria.
“Any company that fails to abide by this new rule, when the vessel is purchased, it will not be allowed to operate in Nigeria.”
He further stated that the fact that Nigerdock can handle a project of such magnitude means that, companies in Nigeria are capable of handling major shipbuilding projects.
He said, “We need to start building marine vessels in Nigeria, because we have the capacity. Some of the shipbuilding facilities outside the country cannot even compare with facilities in Nigeria. Hence, we want to start emphasizing shipbuilding in Nigeria.
“We will ensure that before any job is taken out of Nigeria, the country would have been saturated with a lot of work.”
Also speaking, Managing Director, Nigerdock, Mr. Mansour Jarmakani, disclosed that the facility is being built for Chevron and is capable of producing 420 million cubic feet of gas per day.
He said the project, which is the largest to be done by an indigenous company in Nigeria, will help to eliminate gas flaring and support the Federal Government initiative on power supply.
He commended the Federal Government for making the project come to reality, adding that it will help create added value for the Nigerian economy.He said Nigerdock has over the years been able to create a one-stop shop for shipbuilding, and called for additional opportunity to enable it contribute to a greater Nigeria.
*Michael EBOH – Vanguard
