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  • Content Board and the emerging voyage of mischiefmakers

    Content Board and the emerging voyage of mischiefmakers

    • By Wole Dotun

    The Nigeria Content Monitoring and Development Board (NCDMB), with its massive high-rise headquarters office in Yenagoa, has been an eye in the storm in the past couple of months.

    The purpose of the Local Content Law and the setting up of the agency is essentially to promote the use of indigenous skills and competence without relying on expatriates which was the practice in the past act.

    The setting up of the NCDMB provides an opportunity to ensure the application of indigenous people or Nigerians to execute certain assignments where they have the requisite skill and competence in the oil and gas industry.

    The Content Board took off with pioneer Executive Secretary (ES), Engr. Ernest Nwapa, who laid the foundation. From his days with Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as Minister of Petroleum Resources to the time of Engineer Wabote Simbi, with Chief Timipre Sylva as the Minister of State for Petroleum, there was absolute peace, harmony and focus in the management and delivery of the mandate of the agency, without any undue and arm-twisting interference by the supervising ministers.

    However, since Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri took over as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in-charge of oil, the positive narratives at the Content Board have become a sad tale ranging from allegations of undue interference, to usurping the strategic duties of the Board, to constant friction which the Executive Secretary of the agency, Engr. Felix Ogbe.

    As a matter of fact, since Lokpobiri, took over as the Supervisory Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, the story of  the Content Board has become pathetic.

    With only three months in office, Ogbe who is statutorily saddled with the day to day running of the organization was given a gestapo-like treatment with reversal of normal deployment of some staff by the E.S, to the surprise of staff of the agency who described the act as unheard of in the over fifteen years of its establishment. Following widespread protest, critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta who condemned the act, asked Lokpobiri to allow the Content Board to breathe.

    Only few weeks ago, Wabote issued a statement about how he contended with Lokpobiri’s meddlesomeness, accusing him of using proxy to influence him to pad the 2024 budget with N30 billion among other issues of financial malfeasance and official corruption.

    Evidently, Wabote has his own story to tell. He was removed as Executive Secretary of the Board while his tenure was yet to expire.

    According to Wabote, as ES, one of the tasks he took when Lokpobiri took over as Minister of State in-charge of oil, was a presentation to Lokpobiri, and his counterpart, the Minister of State for petroleum in-charge of Gas, Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, on the happenings in more than 250 page slides – providing information on the status of the Board projects, partnerships, interventions fund, TSA account balances, HCD programme, foresic audits and the strategic initiatives under the NCDMB ten years strategic road map.

    The presentation was followed with an invitation to Lokpobiri to embark on familiarization visits to the Board’s headquarters and other project sites located across the country. Wabote said: “We had told Mr. Lokpobiri that our projects, interventions and partnerships were driven by the enabling provisions contained in the NOGICD act and extent government policies on modular refineries, decades of gas, job creation and poverty eradication.

    In spite of these painstaking explanations made in the most transparent and responsible manner, Lokpobiri still went on a voyage of mischief to paint a different picture to assert that 90% of the NC intervention fund managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI), was not performing, despite being briefed.

    Unfortunately, only the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) choose to present false narratives before the petroleum club as a wasted fund, with several sponsored media reports and commentaries targeted at Wabote and Sylva, who Lokpobiri perceives as the former minister’s political ally.

    Interestingly, the Bank of Industry had since refuted the claims of Lokpobiri, and exonerated Wabote with ecclesiastical assertion. Wabote emphasized that, he had explained to Lokpobiri like a tutorial on the issue of the fund with BOI, that, it is because NCDMB is not a bank that made the Board partner with BOI as a foremost development bank in the country to manage the intervention fund for the oil and gas industry with each loan secured by bank guarantee.

    Interestingly, shortly after Wabote leveled the weighty allegation against Lokpobiri of the attempt to pad budget of the Content Board with N30 billion to oil his alleged governorship ambition in 2027, media and political associates of the minister did not view it lightly, believing that Wabote was becoming a stumbling block against using the agency as a cash cow to oil his political ambition.

    Apart from several campaigns of calumny deliberately planted in the media, the first person to point the finger at Wabote with a petition written to the EFCC over the award of contract to Trans Atlantic Company, asked the Commission to investigate the award. This was a subject over which Wabote had armed himself with the audited report and briefed both the Minister of State for Oil and that of his Gas counterpart.

    The petition which was written to the EFCC by a former one-term member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Israel Sunny Coli, who happens to be the estranged political godson of Sylva.

    Unfortunately, his failure to return to the House of Representatives is being wrongly attributed to his former boss, Sylva, while his constituency are angry that he could not make any impact, either by way of motions or attracting projects to the area.

    Read Also: Content board receives $1m RoI from NEDOGAS

    In another desperate strategy to malign Sylva and Wabote and stampede the anti-graft agency, there was a planned street protest last week. According to widespread media reports, the protest was to be carried out at EFCC headquarters in Abuja, Zonal Headquarters in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa.

    A particular report said “Group uncovers plot to sponsor protests against Wabote, Sylva”.

    The group under the aegis of Niger Delta Justice Forum (NDJF) alleged that the protest was part of the ongoing sponsored campaign of calumny against Wabote and Sylva. The group led by its coordinator, Mr. Owei Johnson, in a statement published in several national dailies accused Isreal Sunny Goli of leading the planned protest and accused Lokpobiri of bankrolling such a plan.

    Also, their desperate bid included maligning any staff perceived to be close to Wabote by being witchunted and blackmailed in the media through phantom organizations issuing frivolous press statements to that effect. The recent one is the laughable call made by one of such group calling for the suspension or summary dismissal of incumbent Director of Planning, Research and Statistics at NCMDB, Mr. Isaac Yalah, over unfounded allegations on which Yalah has been exonerated by BOI.

    Curiously, the so-called group did not deem it necessary to call on Lokpobiri to step aside in the face of the damning allegations of official corruption and nepotism made against him.

    Curiously, the so called group did not deem it necessary to call on Lokpobiri to step aside in the face of damning allegations of official corruption and nepotism made against him. Just recently, he was locked in a recruitment exercise allegedly initiated by him, where nepotism was operated to its fullest by employing a lot of his family at the expense  of many qualified Nigerians; a process that was shrouded in secrecy without recourse to due process. This prompted concerned Niger Delta indigenes to challenge the process in court.

    Happily, the intervention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who happens to be the Minister of Petroleum Resources by appointing the Minister of State for Petroleum in-charge of Gas, Hon. Ekeperikpe Ekpo as Co-chairman of the Local Content Board come as a huge relief. This is not an alternate chairman but Co-chairman for the purpose of checks and balances on the authoritarian character of Lokpobiri.

    This is a welcome development which staff of the content Board and critical stakeholders celebrated across the Niger Delta, describe as a           welcome and timely action by Mr. President to whittle down the overbearing show of power by Lopkobiri who acted like lion instead of a manager. It clearly shows that Tinubu is truly a listening President.

    It is the view of vast majority of stakeholders in the Niger Delta that Mr. President needs to take a step further by asking his junior minister Lokpobiri to step aside, just the same way Betta Edu stepped aside for free and fair investigation. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.

    In civilized climes Lokpobiri, must resign or step aside with the appointment of Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo as co-chairman of the content board. It is a loud and clear statement of vote of no confidence passed on Lokpobiri with a huge question mark over his competence to preside over the Board, coupled with his subterranean activities that undermine the free operations of the Content Board.

    Moreover, it is embarrassing that Lokpobiri, a minister under the APC administration and a former member of the House of Representatives who have enjoyed all the privileges of the ruling party, could afford to engage in acts that paint the Tinubu administration in very bad light just because of pursuing their self-serving political agenda against the Renew Hope Agenda. They should rather allow the EFCC as an institution to do their job by not resorting to orchestrating cheap blackmail and campaign of calumny against Wabote and Sylva – worthy ambassadors and national assets who have paid their dues in integrity test and public service. Mr. President has expended huge resources to ensure that peace and security prevail across the country. Therefore, the so called planned protest borne out of malice to state the least is a distraction to the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

    Bankrolling group of persons to organize a phantom protest under any guise in pursuing selfish political agenda as it is obvious, is the height of insensitivity and disservice to the national at this critical time the government is contending with the impact of the several reforms initiated by the Tinubu administration. The security agencies must be alive to their duties in nipping such ill wind in the bud. A stitch in time saves nine.

    • ·               Dotun, a citizens rights journalist, wrote from Lagos.

  • Content Board identifies $25b investment openings in oil industry

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has identified investment opportunities worth $25 billion in the oil and gas industry that would be tapped in the next two years.

    Its Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, who stated this while enumerating the benefits of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF), which holds in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital in April 4 and 5.

    The event has as its theme:  “Maximising investments in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry for the benefit of the Nigerian people”.

    He said the first edition, which held two years ago, was able to attract investment worth $20 billion. This year’s edition, he said, is expected to attract $25 billion worth of investments.

    He said: “In the past two years we have been able to push opportunities worth about $20 billion into the oil and gas industry, citing projects such as the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited’s (SPDC) Bonga Southwest project, Total’s Ikike project, ExxonMobil Ibot project and Agip Abo project, among others. ‘’

    Final Investment Decisions (FIDs), he said,  would be taken on these projects soon while the FID on Abo project has been taken and work has commenced on it. ” These projects were some of the investments opportunities identified and discussed with industry players at the first edition of NOGOF,” he said.

    He added:“In the next two years we are also looking at pushing opportunities worth $25billion going by the opportunities we have identified and ready to share at the oncoming fair.”

    He noted that the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010, has brought tremendous transformation in the sector, adding that the country’s oil and gas industry looks positive in spite of the changing dynamics in the global market. The dynamics have led to crude oil pricing uncertainties and the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) hanging in the National Assembly.

    Since the Nigerian Content Act came into effect, he said, the oil and gas industry had recorded significant FDI from pipe mills and growth in Nigerian-owned marine vessels.

    Wabote said the major focus of the Nigerian Content Law was “domiciliation” of value-adding activities. According to him, NOGOF would be a forum to share information about available opportunities to investors, who had established fabrication yards, engineering houses, pipe mills, pipe-coating yards, cable manufacturing and other facilities since the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act in 2010.

    “It is important for the investors and other stakeholders to have a line of sight to projects opportunities in the funnel so they can position themselves for the desired growth,” he said, adding that investments and service providers were stifled in the past due to lack of information on projects in the short, medium and long term.

    “In the past, by the time the opportunities come on the table the service providers will not be ready in terms of capacities to deliver the goods, hence the importance of this Fair.

    ‘’The NOGOF is a platform we want to use to share the opportunities that are warehoused by the various international operating companies and indigenous operators. This would cover upstream, midstream and downstream business opportunities. It will address access to market, so that companies will know and understand what is coming and prepare themselves.

    “NOGOF brings together major players as well service companies, industry regulators and government agencies to showcase opportunities in the industry and present available in-country capacities to all stakeholders in attendance. A copy of the compendium of Nigerian Content Opportunities in oil and gas industry will be given to every delegate to the Fair.

    “The maiden  edition, which  held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last two years had over 1200 delegates, 33 exhibitors and presentation of industry opportunities, covering engineering designs, pipe construction facilities upgrade, projects in various parts of the industry, among others. The delegated extensively discussed brown and green fields’ opportunities, among others.”

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu will lead discussions on the available and emerging investment opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas Industry at this year’s NOGOF.

    Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru and chief executives of international operating companies are  expected at the event.

  • Content Board lauds Dangote Refinery on local content

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has hailed the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Free Trade Zone Enterprises (DPRP) over its adherence to the local content law in the execution of its projects.

    The Board also declared its intention to further partner with the firm on the implementation of the local content policy.

    The Director, Monitoring & Evaluation, NCDMB, Mr. Akintunde Adelana, who represented the board’s Executive Secretary,  Simbi Wabote, an engineer, disclosed this at the weekend during the DPRP Nigerian Content Sensitisation/Awareness Creation Programme, titled: “Let’s Walk the Nigerian Content Talk Together,” at Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.

    According to him, “The Dangote Refinery project was expected to close a major gap in the supply of petroleum products 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 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.”

    Speaking further, Wabote described the Local Content Act as the quantum of composite value added to, or created in the Nigerian economy by a systematic development of capacity and capabilities, through the deliberate utilization of Nigerian human, material resources and services in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    He said the country recorded loses prior to the enactment of the local content policy, which he noted, came from jobs executed abroad by International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the country.

    “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 said the board’s mandate was 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.

    He added that the board’s responsibility also include 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 pool of competitive supply chain rooted in oil bearing communities.

    Reading the riot act to defaulters of the Nigerian Content Policy, Wabote said non-compliance with the law would result to the suspension of projects/contracts, penalty of five per cent of project sum, withdrawal of NCDMB’s services, and project cancellation.

    Other penalties for non-compliance, according to the Executive Secretary, are escalation to other regulators to withdraw or suspend license, withdrawal of approvals or de-classification of 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.

    The Chief Operating Officer, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Giuseppe Surace, said the programme was organised to create awareness among the company’s contractors on the requirements of NCDMB, as part of moves to ensure the local content policy takes root in their day-to-day operations.

    “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.

  • Content Board to lawyers: be involved in oil, gas reforms

    The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, has enjoined Nigerian lawyers to get more involved in the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas Industry.

    Wabote spoke at a panel session of a conference organised by lawyers in Abuja. Speaking on the topic entitled “Managing transition and transformation of the Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry,” Wabote noted that lawyers have a big role to play and that includes getting more involved in the development of the laws and regulations and keeping the emerging legal regime simple for easy implementation and compliance.

    In providing legal advisory to their clients, he also appealed to members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to first explore peaceful resolution of oil and gas disputes  and advise “their clients to resort to out of court settlements”, noting that “long drawn legal battles are killers of great initiatives and sow the seeds of bitterness in the business environment.”

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, also highlighted the challenges that faced the petroleum industry before President Mohammed Buhari took over the reins of power in 2015 and measures taken by this Administration to bring back efficiency, stability, increased oil production and numerous transformative policies.   He also enjoined lawyers to get involved in the reforms going on in the sector.

    Other speakers at the session included Special Adviser to the Minister on Petroleum Fiscal Policy, Dr. Tim Okon, who spoke on the emerging petroleum fiscal law; Special Technical Adviser to the Minister on Gas, Mr. Gbite Adeniji, who made a presentation on the new Gas Policy; and a Partner in Bambo and Ighodalo Law Firm, Ms. Stella Duru.

     

  • Content Board begins work on Cross River Oil, Gas Park

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has started the construction of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Odukpani, Cross River State. It is aimed at  creating a regional low-cost manufacturing hub that would produce equipment components and spare parts for the oil and gas industry.

    The park is the first to take off among four planned sites. It will be followed by the site in Emeyal 1, Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.

    At the ground-breaking, the NCDMB Executive Secretary (ES), Simbi Wabote, praised his predecessors for initiating the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS).

    “(It) fits nicely into our 10-year-roadmap aimed at raising in-country value retention in the oil and gas industry  to 70 per cent,” he said.

    He described the event as a great step towards achieving one of the board’s key mandates, which is “to develop capacity of local supply chain for effective and efficient service delivery without compromising oil and gas industry standards.”

    He said about 2,000 jobs would be created when the park begins operation while the indigenes of the host community and environs would benefit from on-the-job training.

    “This project will positively impact Cross River State and Odukpani community and its environs. This positive impact will be felt both at the construction and operations stages of the project,” he added.

    Wabote explained that NOGAPS sites were planned close to power plants while provisions were made to generate captive power to address the electricity challenge facing most manufacturers and businesses.

    He said the park occupies a land mass of about 25 hectares, and would comprise various warehouses, manufacturing shop floors and factories, training centre, hostels, administrative block, mini estate, security posts, fire station, including truck parking and holding areas.

    He charged the host community to support the project so that it could be completed on schedule, warning that the board would discontinue the project, if it faced unreasonable demands and disruptions by youths.

    The Deputy Governor, Prof Ivara Esu, congratulated the board on the take off of the project, promising that the state government would monitor and support its execution.

    The Clan Head of Odukpani, Ekpeyong Effiok, assured that the project would not be disrupted.

    He, however, pleaded that the youth be engaged in the park’s construction and management.

  • $380bs lost to capital flight, says Content Board

    $380bs lost to capital flight, says Content Board

    Nigeria lost about $380 billion to capital flight  before the enactment of the Nigerian Content Law, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Executive Secretary Simbi Wabote has said.

    According to Wabote, before the Law’s coming, fabrication, engineering, and procurement were done abroad, resulting  in the huge cash loss in 50 years.

    About two million jobs were lost during the period.

    According to Wabote, the narratives then were that nothing could be done in the country. Plants and modules fully fabricated offshore together with the technical, and even non-technical, manpower were ‘imported’ into the country without any structure in place to achieve knowledge transfer. The level of Nigerian Content was far less than five per cent.

    The NCDMB chief said with the Nigerian Content Act in place, the country had achieved $5 billion in-country spend as against the $10 billion target at the start of the journey in 2010. He said Nigeria currently has two world class pipe mills and five impressive pipe coating yards, adding that 36 per cent of marine vessels are now owned by Nigerians with four active dry docking facilities in Port Harcourt,  Onne, and Lagos.

    He said over 35,000 jobs had been created on the back of implementation of the Act, while over 7000 had enrolled on NOGIC JQS leading to employment. He stated that the Board is in discussion with an ICT consultant to use the JQS to capture more enrolments.

    According to him, the oil and gas industry content development Act which came into being in 2010 was intended to increase the level of participation of Nigerians and Nigerian companies in the industry. With the Act, the government had established its plan to increase indigenous participation in the industry in terms of human, material and economic resources.

    The implementation of the Act, he said, would considerably change the current business and operating structure in the nation’s oil and gas industry particularly for the international oil service companies.

    Wabote said the board had recorded significant benefits from oil and gas projects and operations for the country, adding there are more indigenous players in the Nigerian oil and gas industry now than any other time before the Act.

    He stated that the Nigerian companies were executing major engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) projects including integration of FPSO topsides in-country. Again, there is more in-country spend, adding that more Nigerians are taking over technical and senior positions in the international oil companies (IOCs), and are now in the hands of Nigerians.

    Wabote said efforts had also been made in the area of domiciliation of oil and gas equipment manufacturing, adding that a lot more would be achieved when the Board’s proposed Oil and Gas Parks come on stream in the coming year.  “Our strategic outlook is to increase Nigerian Content in-country value retention from current level to 70 per cent within the next 10 years,” he added.

    Under the Act, he said, the Board had developed capacity of local supply chain for effective and efficient service delivery to the oil and gas industry without compromising standards, to implement and enforce the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act of 2010.

    He said: “The Act had addressed key parameters required for sustainable local content practice including regulatory framework – an enabling regulatory framework backed with the appropriate legislation.

    Local content thrives where there is vigorous research and development (R&D) guideline to drive development of home-grown technology.  Countries that had witnessed appreciable local content level attributed the growth to the priority attention given to research and development.

    “Periodic gap analysis was essential to determine gaps that needed to be closed in the areas of skills, facilities and infrastructure capacity building. Structured capacity building intervention was essential to offshoot domiciliation of capabilities in-country while fiscal and monetary incentives are essential to attract new investments and keep existing businesses buoyant where necessary.

    “The local content implementation received a boost in 2016 with the launch of the Petroleum Industry Roadmap by the present government. Key focus areas of local content including infrastructure development, new gas projects, skills acquisition and security in the Niger Delta were addressed.”

    Wabote reassured commitment to re-focus and re-dedicate energy at pushing through the Nigerian content into the next level through development and transfer of technology, creation of local employment across value chain activities, reduction in capital flight, integration of host communities into the oil and gas supply chain, and sustainable economic growth through sectoral linkages. He urged all industry stakeholders to support the delivery of the seven pillars of the petroleum industry roadmap.

  • Content Board, Bol in $100m deal

    The Bank of Industry (Bol) and Nigeria Content Development Board have signed a $100 million deal to support indigenous oil and gas operators.

    BoI’s Acting Managing Director,Waheed Olagunju said the collaboration would reduce the nation’s external dependence in the oil and gas sector in terms of funding and technical knowledge.

    He said the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) would address the paucity of funding and inability of operators to access credit, a practice that is affecting manufacturers, service providers and other key players in the oil and gas industry.

    He regretted that most indigenous companies have not been given the advantage they deserve to operate in the sector due to paucity of fund, and praised the Board for unveiling the NCI Fund.

    On how the fund would be managed, Olagunju said it would be managed by BoI and  would be loaned directly to qualifying players in the oil and gas industry under competitive terms.

    This is a departure from the past where the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) provided partial guarantees and 50 per cent interest rebate to service companies that obtained facilities from commercial banks for asset acquisition and projects execution.

    Under the old model which became operational in 2012, three companies-Ladol, Starz and Vandrezzer consummated transactions.

  • $3.8b FPSO: Content Board, firms laud LADOL over Egina project

    The journey to fully realise the $3.8 billion Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) oil platform reached another milestones yesterday, with the site tour by government agents and other concerned stakeholders who said the work done so far met international standards.

    The platform otherwise known as Egina project was awarded to Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) in 2013 to build a world class oil production platform in Nigeria with the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL), acting as the local content partner.

    Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB),  Daziba Patrick Obah, and Deputy Managing Director, Total, Musa Kida,  led a team of representatives of other International Oil Companies (IOCs) and top managers of Gulf Trade Bank (GTB), on an inspection tour of the project site at LADOL base in Tarkwa bay, Apapa-Lagos.

    The team comprising representatives of IOCs such as ENI, Chevron, Agip, Shell, Ezon Mobil, and others, were received by the Executive Chairman of LADOL, Mr. Ladi Jadesimi.

    The stakeholders who took turn to speak with reporters after a tour of the project site were unanimous that the FPSO is indeed a game changer for the nation’s economy. They added that it was capable of seeing the country make a quantum leap in her quest join the club G30 by year 2020.

    Kida said Total  was proud to be associated with the  fact that oil firm strongly believes the Nigerian Content is here to stay.

    “It was a huge technical struggle in taking the risk to believe that this integration can indeed take place here or anywhere in Nigeria. Now it has remained our pride for taking this step, and we remain committed to it,” he said.

    To this end, the Total oil chief appealed to government and other IOCs not to make the Egina fabrication “a one-off project that will seize to attract other projects.

    “This facility has been built to international standards, and Total is very comfortable with work done here so far as we believe that the base is capable of fabricating very huge modules that will be utilised in the FPSO. Egina installation will be side-by-side here by early next year, so it is going to be more impressive. My appeal therefore is that my colleagues in the oil industry should sustain this good beginning by ensuring that other FPSOs are done here at LADOL base,” he added.

  • Content Board, banks discuss long-term loans to oil, gas firms

    Content Board, banks discuss long-term loans to oil, gas firms

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has started  engaging banks to find ways of providing long-term funding to oil and gas firms, the Executive Secretary,  Denzil Kentebe, has  said.

    Kentebe, who spoke on the sideline of the Load-Out and Sail-Away ceremony of Chevron’s Sonam Non-Associated Gas Wellhead Platform (Sonam NWP), built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Nigerdock in Lagos at the weekend, said the discussion has become imperative to enable banks move away from the current short term facilities to oil and gas companies, as the oil industry projects are long tenured.

    He said the Board has been in discussion with banks on the issue. “Discussion with banks to ensure they (banks) don’t put pressure on oil firms is nothing new to us, because we have over time been engaging the bankers and that has been one of the areas we have been pushing them to make sure we have facilities that last for quite long and not just short term facilities.”

    He debunked allegations that the Nigerian Content Fund has remained idle while many players in the  industry couldn’t access funds to execute their jobs, or projects.

    Kentebe, who refused to be drawn as to the current value of the Fund, or the amount so far disbursed, said Nigerian companies are utilising the Fund, “therefore it is not idle,” he added.

    He said: “The Nigerian Content Fund is not idle. The Fund is being utilised by Nigerian companies. For instance, Ladol, which is in Lagos, is taking advantage of the facility, and a lot of other companies. We are doing all we can to make sure Nigerians are more aware of the Fund’s availability. We are also engaging the banks to ensure that the banks release information at their disposal that can help their clients on the standards of the facilities that can be tapped into.”

    He expressed concern over the job loss in the industry on account of low oil prices in the international market.

    The Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) as at April last year, had about $540 million. The Fund was established by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act (NOGIC Act), 2010 to address financial and liquidity challenges of local companies that operate in the oil and gas industry.

    The Fund is built through contribution of one per cent from every contract awarded to any operator, contractor, subcontractor, alliance partner, or any other entity involved in any project, operation, activity or transaction in the upstream sector. It is deducted at source by contract awarding entities and paid into designated accounts which are kept with Custodian Banks under the programme

  • Bayelsa knocks oil companies, content board

    Bayelsa knocks oil companies, content board

    Bayelsa State is not happy with oil companies operating in the state and the Niger Delta region. It could not hide its loathing for operational strategies of multinational oil companies when its Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Wodu Kemasuode, led a team on Tuesday to the headquarters of the Nigeria Content Development  and Management Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    Everybody thought that the commissioner and his team came for a courtesy visit, especially as the board has a new Executive Secretary, Mr. Denzel Kentebe, who hails from the state. He replaced the former administrator, Mr. Ernest Nwakpa.

    Kentebe also thought that it was a courtesy call. But it ended up being more than a familiarisation visit. Though the commissioner with his team after settling down in the exotic office of Kentebe congratulated him on his new portfolio, he wasted no time to spell out the grievances of the state against the board and the oil companies.

    First on his list was the recent sale of the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 and the Nembe Creek Trunkline by the Royal Dutch Shell Plc whose operational name in the country is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    Shell sold the oil facilities located in Nembe Local Government Area of the state to Aiteo Eastern E&P Co Ltd for about $1.7billion. But the state is angry at its exclusion from the transactions that led to the sale of OML 29.

    The commissioner said state’s expression of interest to acquire the oil assets was turned down by the multinational company. Kemasuode told Kentebe, that the interest of the state was not considered in the bidding that led to the sale.

    “Bayelsa State Government submitted its bid for OML 29 but we are not happy that our bid was not considered. We feel that the board did not consider the interest of the state in the bidding. Our interest was not protected,” he said.

    He said the state suffer greatly from all the environmental problems arising from oil exploitation and should have been considered first in the sale of the oil assets.

    Second on his list is the establishment of headquarters of oil companies outside their areas of operations in the state and the Niger Delta region. Undoubtedly, most companies who explore and exploit petroleum products in the state and the region have their headquarters outside  their operational areas. While some have their offices in Lagos, others operate from Abuja.

    But the commissioner said such practice account for the reasons why the states in the region have not developed to their full capacity. He demanded immediate relocation of oil companies’ head offices to oil-producing states including Bayelsa.

    He said the government was considering exploring legal options to compel oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the state. He said the absence of operational offices of the companies has adverse effects on the economy and environment of the state.

    He said: “What we suffer from the absence of these offices in the state cannot be enumerated, even in terms of taxation, the economy and real estate. Once these oil companies come here, so many other companies will follow them and this will boost our economy. Once they come, Bayelsa state will be something else.

    “So, we are suffering tremendously as a result of the absence of these companies. There is absolutely no basis not even issues of security. The place is secure enough for everyone. If it is so secured that these companies carry out their production, it should also be secured for them to bring their head offices here. The government is doing all its best to ensure that there is security and the government will still do more.”

    Without mincing words, the commissioner pointed out that the board is also guilty of what other oil companies are doing. He said the board has its most effective and efficient office outside the state.

    He said the board by so doing contravenes Section 71 of the Act establishing it which requires that it carries out its business and locate its headquarters within the oil-producing state. He said the board has reduced its Yenagoa office to a mere symbol while running most of its affairs in its Abuja office.

    He said against the spirits of the law, the board undertakes most of its activities in its Abuja office adding that if the board carries out its programmes in the state as envisaged by the act, they will improve the programme of the state.

    He said: “Then another major issue of concern to us as a state government is the fact that the board has in contravention of the Act, that is section 71 of the Act, established office outside the oil-producing state where mutual activities are carried out.

    “In the last programme that the board and the governor held last year, the governor did allude to that because I am aware that in the last regime, most of the activities took place there and that is to the detriment of the state because if you carry out your activities here as envisage by the act the economy of the state will improve.

    “The Act simply says you can have offices only in the oil-producing states. You should have your headquarters here then if you want branch offices you can build. As a goverment we are calling on the board to close that office in Abuja and carry out its businesses here.

    “The Abuja office of the board is illegal, it’s contrary to the provisions of the Act established by a particular section 71. These are serious legal issues and the state is quite serious serious about it.”

    Another issue bothering the state is the employment opportunities in the board. Kemasuode reminded Kentebe of the provision of the Federal Character in the Nigerian Constitution as it relates to employment. He said though the state lacks knowledge of composition of the board’s employees, there must an effective representation of indigenes of the state in the employment of the board.

    “For now we will call on the board to ensure that there is effective representation at all levels of indigenes of this state in the operations of the board not only at one level.

    “These are serious issues, which we have quietly talked about before coming to you.

    “We hope that these issues will be treated with the seriousness with which you would have been doing your work,”, he said.

    In his response, Kentebe said the board would look into the demands of the state and reschedule meetings to discuss them.

    He said: “I had thought that this was going to be a welcome courtesy visit, trying to welcome me to the state and trying to show me where the joints are, but from your presentation apart from being a welcome visit, you have also come with a lot of concerns.

    “I want to say that we will look into these issues. We have been here for five years and we have enjoyed the collaboration and support of the Bayelsa State government and we still continue to look forward to that.

    “These issues that you have brought up, we will look into them. We will schedule meetings to discuss them further with you, so we can continue to have that good relationship that we have had.

    “I can assure you that we are a very responsible board an we will not do anything contrary to the interest of the state of Bayelsa and most especially to contravene the Act that set us up in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”