Nigerian content drive in oil, gas upstream targets 300,000 jobs
…but skills, infrastructure gaps remain
Nine years after it was passed into law, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act has recorded some significant achievements and its regulator, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has set ambitious targets, among them to create 300,000 jobs by 2027. But gaps in skills and infrastructure in the industry remain.
The NOGICD Act was meant to increase the quantity and quality of skills and raw materials sourced within Nigeria for exploration and production activities in the oil and gas upstream. Nigerian content has grown from almost zero to 30 percent in 2018. And the NCDMB wants to move this needle further, to 70 percent in the next eight years.
“Local content is not Corporate Social Responsibility. It is Nigeria’s way of closing up gaps in the upstream oil and gas sector by building Nigerian competences and staying globally competitive,” said Tunde Adelana, director, monitoring and evaluation, NCDMB.
French super oil major, Total Upstream floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO), Egina, is to date the most visible testimony to
the value addition position assumed by the Nigerian content philosophy. Six of the 18 modules integrated on the FPSO were built by local companies and contractors. But Nigeria’s content drive faces significant challenges.
The Board set out to achieve 60 percent Nigerian Content on the project but realised 50 percent, which Simbi Wabote, executive secretary of NCDMB, described as commendable because the execution of Egina set new benchmarks and domiciled new capacities and facilities in-country, one of which is the FPSO integration facility at the SHI-MCI yard located at the LADOL Free Zone, Lagos.
“If we are to implement the Nigerian Content Law 100 percent, we will have to stop oil production in Nigeria, develop non-existing capacity, and then start production again. The Board enforces the law with pragmatism,” Wabote said.
Africa’s most populous nation spends $10 billion annually to hire certified welders into the country, Sunny Eromosele, managing director, Mudiame International Limited, said in an interview early this year.