Oil & Gas
By Anthony Isibor
THE Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has announced that it has 83% completion of the 96 initiatives set under the 10 year strategic roadmap set in 2017.
Simbi Wabote, Executive secretary, NCDMB made the disclosure during his opening keynote address at the 12th edition of the Practical Nigerian Content, PNC, forum in Yenagoa on Tuesday, December 5, 2023.
With only three years left to get into the year 2027 target, the 83% achievement appears o be very laudable.
Realnews recalls that the 10-year Strategic Roadmap was launched in 2017 with the aim of increasing Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry to 70% by the year 2027.
Reflecting on the journey in the last seven and a half years of being in the saddle as the Executive Secretary, Wabote expressed satisfaction and gratitude for the wonderful support received across board.
According to Wabote, other achievements recorded under the roadmap, include increase in the number of registered industry operators from 53 in 2018 to 114 in 2023, representing about 100% increase.
“Within the same period, service companies increased from 8,000 to 11,000, while individual registrations increased from 140,000 to almost 400,000.
“Technical operations data in NOGIC-JQS shows that the Certification of NC Plans increased from 178 in 2022 to 255 in 2023, while the approved NC Compliance Certificates dropped from 197 in 2022 to 168 in 2023.
“A total of 889 EQs were approved in 2022, while 179 EQs were rejected. The expatriate quota approval is trending down in the last five years.
“This year, a total of 1,156 EQs were approved at the end of November compared to 889 approved in 2022, while 328 EQs were approved compared 179 rejected last year.
“The expatriate quota approval has been trending down from up till 2021 when it started an upward trend largely attributed to the post-COVID-19 business recovery, newly sanctioned projects such as Train-7, and the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, of 2021.
“To shorten contracting cycle to a max of 6 months, a new SLA-MOU has been signed with industry operators and NNPC Limited.
“Under the Technical Capability Development pillar of the roadmap, our in-country
“Under this pillar, we have transformed two of our portfolio of NOGAPS sites from bare land to industrial parks to support in-country manufacturing and assembly of equipment and input materials required for exploration and production activities.
While these two NOGAPS sites are essentially ready for commissioning, we are keen to operationalize it by having manufacturing activities in place which is scheduled for first half of next year.
“A total of 37 applications have been received for allocation of service plots and or shop floors so far and the process of allocation of serviced plots to manufacturers is in top-gear and so far, service plots/shop floors have been allocated to six companies.
“At the moment, we have reached an advanced stage in our review of the Business Plans of intending tenants and another batch of allocations will soon be made.
“Under the strategic roadmap, we set up a dedicated $50 million fund to co-finance industry research and development activities.
“The Research and Development Fund led to the development of Amal Tech Smoke Alarm Detector Facility that we will commission next week in Abuja.
“We created Centres of Excellence for research and development in six Nigerian Universities as well as created the Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre to incubate innovative ideas/startups.
“Seventeen start-up companies successfully concluded training at the NCDMB Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre, TIIC.
“On Human Capacity Development, we identified existing technical/vocational or craft centres and carried out intervention programmes to strengthen the institutions such as Government Technical College in Abak, Akwa Ibom State, GTC Port Harcourt, GTC Amoli, University of Ibadan, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University, University of Lagos, Nigerian Maritime University, and many others.” he added.
Wabote also expressed optimism that the higher certified NC Plans in 2023 will soon translate to approved contracts with NC Compliance Certificates as the industry get accustomed to the policy directions of the new government.
A.I
Tags: NCDMB Practical Nigerian Content Simbi Kasie Wabote
