26 September 2012, Sweetcrude, PORT HARCOURT – NIGERIA is working to attract 25 international reputable equipment manufacturing companies in the oil sector to open shop in the country under the Equipment Components Manufacturing Initiative of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB.
Ernest Nwapa, NCDMB’s Executive Secretary, who made this known, said the plan is for the next five years.
Speaking at the commissioning of Cameron Offshore Systems Nigeria’s first made-in-Nigeria Subsea Christmas Tree at the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone, Rivers State, Nwapa said the development would create over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The plan will also save the nation a substantial part of income hitherto being spent on imporatation of products, he said, adding that with the development, over 30 per cent of total procurement costs for manufactured equipment and spares will be spent in Nigeria.
“In the next three-five years, Nigeria will have over 25 globally recognised Original Equipment Manufacturers making their equipment or major components here, either directly or using their Nigerian representatives.
“The Board’s implementation efforts will be targeted towards ensuring the training of Nigerians to the highest international standards, supporting companies that set up facilities in Nigeria, working with the Nigerian Content Support Fund to drive down fund costs to local entrepreneurs and feeding work into the local industry being created,” he said.
According to him, the Nigerian Content Act had started to achieve government’s aspiration of transforming the oil and gas sector from an importer of over 95 per cent of the industry needs a few years ago to one that manufactures inputs used in the industry and other sectors of the national economy.
He said the oil industry, which previously created millions of jobs in foreign economies had begun to generate jobs for Nigerians through the development of facilities in-country where work are being executed while indigenes of host communities were becoming active participants in the activities of the industry, thereby creating growth in knowledge, wealth and general wellbeing.
Nwapa commended Intels Nigeria Limited-the management of the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone for the support it lent to the assembling of the Subsea Christmas Tree and added that huge investments in infrastructure and facilities are being made in the zone to support the growth of workload the industry must place in Nigeria under the Nigerian Content Act.
