The management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has reaffirmed its commitment to continue to support and fund indigenous companies operating in the oil and gas industry in 2020 business year and beyond.
This was disclosed by the Board at a capacity building workshop organised for media stakeholders in Lagos.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Dr. Ginah O. Ginah, lamented that the Nigerian government lost millions of jobs and revenue throughout the years that foreign companies dominated the exploration, shipment, transportation and sale of the country’s oil and gas without an eye on growing capacity and developing local industry operators.
He noted that the creation of the Board through the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGIC) Act in 2010 unlocked unprecedented opportunities for indigenous entrepreneurs in the industry.
Adding that the Executive Secretary, Engineer Simbi Wabote and his team are very passionate about developing indigenous operators, as a result, the board has drawn a 10-year development plan that will ensure that its target of growing local content from the current 30 per cent to 70 per cent are achieved by 2027.
He stated that about 70 per cent of the $200 million fund to assist indigenous operator has been disbursed, pointing that the board is expecting replenishment from the federal government and urged Nigerians to take advantage and access the fund.
According to Dr. Ginah, the overriding idea is to accelerate local content growth and rightly position indigenous companies into the mainstream of the oil and gas industry by providing the entrepreneurs the required support to thrive.
The NCDMB is expected to save the Nigerian government over $12 billion in the next 7 years, create over 10 million jobs in the economy and export the services of industry professionals to most oil producing countries in Africa.