OpeOluwani Akintayo
18 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has said limitations in capacity and technology hinders full implementation of the local content in Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, at the Public Hearing organised by the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the $16billion Egina project, said without adequate capacity and technology, it will be almost impossible to implement section 53 of the NOGICD Act, which mandates that all fabrication and welding activities must be carried out in Nigeria.
According to him, the country does not have enough dockyards where big vessels like the Floating production storage and offloading vessel, Egina FPSO can be fabricated from scratch.
“Some targets set in the Act are inspirational, and not attainable at the moment because of limitations in capacity and technology”, he said.
Enacted by the National Assembly, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development, NOGICD Act provides for the development of local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, Nigerian plan, supervision, coordination, monitoring and implementation of Nigerian content, and for related matters.
According to Wabote, failure to address the above-mentioned challenges will affect crude oil production in the country.
“If we are to implement the Nigerian Content Law 100 percent, we will have to stop oil production in Nigeria, develop non-existing capacity, and then start production again. The Board enforces the law with pragmatism. Ninety-five percent of our construction in the oil industry is steel, yet we do not have a steel mill in Nigeria. The oil and gas industry depends on sectorial linkages to deliver on some items. More so, Local Content is a marathon race and not a sprint.”
