04 May 2016, Houston, Texas – The National Assembly will begin the modification of public procurement laws to accommodate more local content provisions as the Federal Government plans to enforce application of local content in the other sectors of the economy, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr Ibe Kachikwu has said.
He spoke at the annual Nigerian Content Investment Forum (NCIF) organised by SweetCrude in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Houston, Texas, United States (U.S).
Represented by the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, NCDMB, Tunde Adelana, he said: “Government is determined to keep our populace productively engaged, as such we are working on enforcing local content practice in other sectors especially power, construction, information communication technology (ICT). The National Assembly is currently in the process of amending our public procurement laws with stricter local content provisions.”
He also noted that the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) has grown to $600 million from $500 million, adding that the management of NCDMB, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and commercial banks, are reviewing the guidelines of the fund to ease access by indigenous players in the oil service industry.
Kachikwu said the Federal Government plans to review tariffs in oil and gas sector that hinder competitiveness of locally manufactured goods and extend fiscal incentives to all investors that have oil and gas facilities close to rural oil producing communities. He added that in line with government’s drive towards diversification of the economy, the administration is focused on implementing initiatives that are aimed at creating mutually benefitting partnerships that will contribute towards the achievement of industrial growth and socio-economic well being.
“Nigerian content policy has shifted the focus of the oil and gas industry from the stance of revenue for government to in-country value addition through the domiciliation and utilisation of Nigerian goods, services and personnel in oil and gas activities,” Kachikwu said.
Addressing Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Houston’s Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), he said specific areas of focus for local content development include infrastructure, fiscal incentives, funding, addressing long contracting cycle, and in-country processing of hydrocarbon resources.
“We will accelerate the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGaPS) to enable our SMEs focus on production and services while we develop infrastructure and facilities to support domiciliation imperatives. Tariffs that put local production at a disadvantage are being reviewed as a way of enhancing competitiveness of locally made goods that are critical to the industry such as steel pipes and valves,” Kachikwu said.
- The Nation
