Oge Obi
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has commended the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Free Trade Zone Enterprises (DPRP) for abiding by the local content law in the execution of its refinery project.
The Director, Monitoring & Evaluation, NCDMB, Mr. Akintunde Adelana, who represented the Board’s Executive Secretary Dr. Simbi Wabote, made this known during the DPRP Nigerian Content Sensitization/Awareness Creation Programme, titled: “Let’s Walk the Nigerian Content Talk Together,” at Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.
Wabote said that the Dangote Refinery upon completion would close a major gap in the supply of petroleum products in the country. Continuing he declared the Board’s intention to partner with the Dangote Refinery for effective implementation of Local Content policy in the country.
“We consider this as a very important project and we are willing to partner with the company to ensure full implementation of the local content policy. We embarked on this journey with the company a long time ago and we are ready to partner with the Dangote Group.
“Part of what you see to today is part of our efforts to ensure that the company and its contractors comply with the local content policy and they have put in a lot of efforts in this regard”, he said.
Speaking further, Wabote stated that the Local Content Act was a major legislative instrument created to add value to the Nigerian economy by a systematic development of capacity and capabilities of the people, through deliberate utilization of Nigerian human, material resources and services in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Wabote noted that prior to the enactment of the local content law; Nigeria experienced loses arising from jobs executed abroad by International Oil Companies (IOCs).
“The narrative then was that nothing can be done in-country. Plants and modules were fully fabricated offshore without any structure in place to achieve knowledge transfer. Before 2010, we had no active dry-dock facilities. The few we had were abandoned and left to rot away. Today, we have four active dry docking facilities in Port Harcourt, Onne, and Lagos,” he added.
Wabote reiterated the board’s mandate to be to develop local capacity in key areas such as manufacturing and fabrication and promote indigenous ownership of assets and utilization of indigenous assets in oil and gas operations.
Adding that the Board’s responsibility also includes linking the oil and gas industry with other sectors of the economy, enhance multiplier effect of oil and gas investments in the economy and develop a pool of competitive supply chain rooted in oil-bearing communities.
The Executive Secretary, however warned that defaulters of the Nigerian Content Policy risks suspension of their projects/contracts, a penalty of five percent of project sum, withdrawal of NCDMB’s services, and project cancellation unrecoverable sunk cost.
Also, other penalties for non-compliance, according to the ES, includes withdrawal or suspension of license, withdrawal of approvals or de-classification of the contractor from pre-qualification list, application of the full weight of the law in accordance with Section 68, and publication of non-compliant operators in newspapers and professional gazettes.
Also speaking, the Chief Operating Officer, DPRP, Mr. Giuseppe Surace, said the programme was organized to create awareness among the company’s contractors on the requirements of NCDMB, as part of moves to ensure full compliance to the local content policy in their day to day operation.
“The programme was organised to ensure that our contractors are well informed about the Nigerian Content Act and this is expected to assist them with the execution of not just the Dangote project, but other projects in their portfolio,” he added.
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