Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, has declared that the country is on a mission to build global champions in the oil and gas industry through the strategic Project 100 initiative.
Speaking recently at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair, NOGOF 2025 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Lokpobiri said the initiative, implemented by the Ministry and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, was nurturing indigenous companies to rise beyond national and continental boundaries.
He emphasized that local content development has shifted from aspirational targets to measurable impact, adding that Project 100 is central to Nigeria’s industrial transformation agenda.
“Together with the NCDMB, we are grooming Nigerian companies to become not just African but global champions.
“We have moved from targets to impact. Indigenous companies are now managing complex upstream assets, building marine vessels, and setting global standards,” he said.
The Minister also highlighted the role of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, NCIF, which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in single-digit interest loans to support local companies scaling their operations.
Calling for deeper collaboration, Lokpobiri urged investors and industry stakeholders to go beyond signing memoranda and start sealing tangible deals.
“Let NOGOF 2025 be remembered not for speeches, but for action. Not for promises, but for partnerships,” he said.
He concluded that Project 100 and other initiatives will position Nigeria not just as Africa’s energy leader, but a global force in oil and gas innovation and enterprise.
