…As Board achieves $5bn retention in economy

By Adewale Sanyaolu

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The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is to establish Local Content Bank of Nigeria.
The bank when set up will focus on establishment of facilities for domiciliation of services with emphasis on optimal use of local resource input.
Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, gave the hint at a public hearing conducted by the Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream and Gas in Abuja yesterday,  with the intent to determine the extent of compliance with the Nigerian Content Act and utilisation of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF).
Wabote assured that Nigerian oil and gas industry will between now and year 2027 aspire to domesticate the full capacity and capability required for the integration of Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSO).
The new target for the industry follows the successful in-country fabrication of six modules of the Total Egina FPSO and scheduled integration of the modules on the FPSO at the SHI-MCI yard in Lagos in September 2017,  adding that this is the first time these feats would ever happen in Nigeria.
The FPSO is the biggest component of a deepwater oil and gas project and the fabrication and integration of the modules at any location spurs multi-dimensional development and creates thousands of jobs.
Speaking on the achievements of the Board, Wabote confirmed that Nigerian Content activities recorded six million training man hours and is now able to retain $5 billion in the local economy from the annual $20 billion industry expenditure, which ended up in foreign economies in the past.
He stated that 36 percent of the marine vessels operating in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry were now owned by indigenous players, a marked improvement from total foreign dominationof the industry before the implementation of the Act.
Speaking further, Wabote cited the establishment of five world class fabrication yards as another evidence of Nigerian Content implementation, adding that “today, Nigeria is able to handle60,000 metric tonnesof fabrication in-country.”
He also mentioned the local manufacture of barites which is required for crude oil drilling operations, noting that NCDMB worked with the industry to support the establishment of a mechanized plant in Benue State for barites mining and beneficiation.
On the NCDF, the Executive Secretary reported that international oil companies comply reasonably in remitting one percent of the value of their contracts but some servicecompanies and indigenous operating firms default in their payment.