*NCDMB, DPR close ranks
21 June 2012, Sweetcrude, Yenagoa – A new partnership being forged by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and the Department of Petroleum Resources will soon ensure that compliance with Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGIC) Act 2010 by operators and service companies will be a key condition for participating in bid rounds and securing licenses, permits and approvals in the industry.
Management of the two agencies, who agreed to ensure this at a meeting in Lagos on Thursday, also set up a joint committee to design an interface model with regard to common mandates related to Nigerian content development in the oil and gas industry.
Among other things, the committee will develop procedure for operationalizing sections 3 and 7 of the NOGIC Act, which provides that compliance with Nigerian Content provisions, promotion of Nigerian Content development and submission of Nigerian Content Plan will constitute conditions for the award of licenses, permits and any other project in the oil and gas industry.
DPR handles bid rounds and grants licenses and permits which producing and service companies need to operate in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Another focus area of the collaboration which is expected to be formally endorsed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, is Expatriate Quota Management, where the two agencies hope to interface seamlessly, ensure industry compliance with section 33 of the NOGIC Act, minimise incidents of abuse and ensure optimal knowledge transfer to Nigerians from enforcement
The committee is also to address the increasing incidence of staff disengagement by operators and design partnership model for critical information sharing between DPR and NCDMB to facilitate effective regulation of the industry.
The meeting was led by the Director of DPR, Mr. Osten Olurunsola and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Nwapa, with top management team of both agencies in attendance.
In his welcome address, the Director of DPR commended NCDMB for the numerous achievements it had recorded within two years of its establishment, adding that Nigerian Content has been the shining light in the industry within the period.
He called for close collaboration between the two agencies, in a way that will be evident for stakeholders to see.
“When we are seen working together, people will find it difficult to play one agency against the other and when we have issues, we will examine them,” he added.
In his comments, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB maintained that the oil and gas industry can only make sustainable progress if all agencies of government connected with the sector have a common understanding.
“Once there are conflicting signals from NCDMB, DPR and NAPIMS, there will be problems. We want people from our offices to be acting on the basis of a common understanding of the laws and government policies.
In a bid to build a common understanding for its mandate, Nwapa said the Board had engaged several ministries, departments and agencies connected with the oil and gas industry and Nigerian Content implementation and had recorded immense successes.
Some of these MDAs include Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information and Technology, Ministry of Trade and Investment, Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, NIMASA, NDDC and NIPC.
He advised agencies of government against having the erroneous impression that collaborating with each other will lead to encroachment into their mandates, adding that any success recorded through such efforts will always be jointly shared.
The committee will be inaugurated before the end of June 2012 and it is planned that a public notice on the implementation of the collaboration will be issued in October 2012.
