The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NCDMB

  • Board attributes success to govt

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board’s (NCDMB) has attributed its successes to the Federal Government’s courage, cooperation of International Oil Companies (IOCs) and local oil servicing companies.

    Speaking at the inauguration of the Tolmann Allied Services’ Deepwater Simulation Theatre (DST) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, NCDMB Executive Secretary Ernest Nwapa praised the entrepreneurial spirit of local oil servicing firms owners who set up key facilities and acquired hi-tech assets despite the challenges in the sector.

    He also praised the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) for the Board’s creation, saying its members pushed for indigenous participation before the Federal Government crowned their efforts with the Nigerian Content policy which later became law.

    “You needed a resolute person to lead and drive the changes we have witnessed. The government gave the Board a strong tone from the top to implement the Act,” he said, adding that the Minister has assured that the government would support any investment and ensure that such firms get patronage.

    Nwapa, who represented the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, at the event, said the inauguration of Africa’s first DST was a good way to start the celebration of the fourth NCDMB’s anniversary.

    The DST, he said, was not only the first in Africa, but also the third in the world, and that it was conceived to carry out deep offshore exploration and groom operators in the sector.

    It was noteworthy that the company invested in such an upscale facility, adding that it is a further proof that Nigerians can own and operate key assets in the industry, he said.

    Nwapa said the Board’s insistence on indigenous ownership of key assets as a major plank of monitoring compliance is based on the fact that it is a guarantee that the implementation of the Content policy would endure.

    “Because Nigerians now have stakes in ownership, we are sure that the Nigerian Content will survive even after the current officials in the government may have left the scene,” he said, adding: “It is from these kinds of service companies and investments we see from Tolmann and PETAN companies that assure us that jobs will be created and we will push them to make more investments.”

    The Managing Director of Tolmann Allied Services, Mr. Emmanuel Onyekwena, listed the challenges the company faced while setting up the DST, noting that the intervention of the Minister helped them. He said the project would address challenges in deep water exploration, build in-country capacity with global reach, create employment and assist communities.

  • Oil workers slam NCDMB over exclusion from confab

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has expressed its disappointment to the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for excluding NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) from its just-concluded stakeholders’ conference.

    In a statement signed by its President, Igwe Achese, NUPENG said though it championed the battle to make the Local Content Bill a reality, it is being excluded from discussions that affect the sector.

    The union said the board’s deliberate act to exclude the two unions is to prevent them from opening up on the weaknesses and lapses noticeable in the implementation of the mandate of the board.

    Achese said: “It is sad to note that the ideals and purpose of setting up the board have not been realised.

    “It is shameful that the level of success expected of the board has not been met.The board has failed to call indigenous firms who are benefitting from the Local Content Act to stop enslaving their workers who are Nigerians as casuals.”

    According to him, the board has failed to monitor the indigenous firms that are owing their workers’salaries and allowances, adding that it has also failed to fish out indigenous firms operating in the sector fronting for foreign firms, making the Act itself a nullity.

    “These foreign firms invest in fabrication and other local content tools used in the oil and gas industry, using Nigerians as fronts.  This negates the principle behind the Local Content Act and these firms have many expatriate workers doing jobs that qualified Nigerians can do.

    “NUPENG, therefore, believes that the non-inclusion of NUPENGASSAN in the stakeholders’ summit is an attempt to gag their submissions on happenings in the affairs of the board as it is not yet equal to the task and compromising on issues based on regulation in the industry.

    ‘’NUPENG calls for another summit to include the union and PENGASSAN for the truth to be told in order to move the work of the board forward,” Achese said.

  • ‘Deregulation’ll ensure safety in downstream’

    Operations in the downstream petroleum sector will be safer if it is deregulated, the Managing Director, NIPCO Plc Mr

    Venkataraman Venkatapathy, has said.

    Speaking during a two-day training with the theme: ‘Safety and security challenges in the downstream sector,’ Venkatapathy said it has become necessary to train the workers in line with the oil and gas industry local content development Act, 2010, which harps on effective harnessing of indigenous capacity.

    Represented by the firm’s Assistant General Manager, Human Resources/Administration, Mr Magaji Mohammed, Venkataramad said the development became necessary to enable the staff to operate effectively in a truly competitive business environment, adding that Nipco will continue to develop its workforce in line with the Nigeria Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) guidelines.

    He said the programme is designed to create awareness for participants on contemporary issues in safety and security management in downstream operations.

    According to him, the company has put in place a robust performance framework to ensure that the staff are supported to deliver higher levels of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

    “The loss in the downstream sector could take different forms with an all encompassing effect on every facet of operations anytime it happens, thus making it imperative for an enduring loss control strategies. We are convinced that our investment in training and human capital development will translate into greater productivity higher performance and impact positively on the overall operations of the company,” he added.

  • Shell promises $5m jetty for pipe mill

    Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) will build a jetty worth $5 million in support of the pilot pipe mill being promoted by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

    The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Ernest Nwapa, stated this when he received members of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) who went on oversight visit to the Board in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The jetty would be used for shipping raw materials and finished products from the 250 metric tonne pipe mill being located in the same precincts with the Shell Gbaran Ubie’s gas plant and the National Integrated Power Plants (NIPPs).

    He said the pipe mill would create over 1,000 direct jobs and several thousand indirect jobs for Nigerians as well as provide an invaluable platform for training Nigerians. He said the mill will also supply pipes for the over 2,000 kilometres of new gas pipelines to be laid in the gas master plan, replacement of aged existing pipes, as well as supply pipes for the numerous fertiliser, LPG and gas-to-power projects planned for the next few years.

    Nwapa reassured the Senate Committee, led by its Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, that the Board was focusing on developing local capacity which will ensure that industry jobs are executed in-country and employment is created for qualified Nigerians.

    He stressed that the existence of local capacity and manufacturing of components of industry equipment was a sure way to grow the Nigerian Content, generate employment and reduce dependence on importation for industry operations.

    Other initiatives of the Board, according to him, includes the on-going plan by the Board to establish the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industrial Parks in proximity to the oil fields to spur Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to grow their capability in manufacturing through partnerships with multi-nationals and original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs).

    “We intend to use the industrial park model to establish physical infrastructure and create enabling environment for low-cost manufacturing of equipment components, with a view to maximise utilisation of Nigerian made goods in the oil and gas industry; and to integrate community entrepreneurs into oil and gas value chain,” he said.

    In his remarks, Paulker reminded the Board that it has an important role to play in the development of the economy, especially in increasing the participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry and developing indigenous capacity.

  • ‘Develop local content ahead of PIB passage’

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has warned that until robust domiciliation of services and manufacturing of oil and gas equipment and components are achieved, the chunk of investment inflow into the sector would be lost to capital flight.

    The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Ernest Nwapa, who spoke at the offshore technology conference in the United States, drew attention to the need to sufficiently domicile service and manufacturing ends of petroleum industry operations noting that failure to do so would mean that investments would flow into the country, but take flight in the form of overseas procurement of equipment used for operations and remuneration of expatriate personnel working on projects.

    To maximise benefits of investments inflow into the multi-billion dollar industry, Nwapa advised that concerted efforts be made to develop Nigerian Content, so that Nigerians and the economy derive value from the expected huge investment that would come into the sector after the passage of the PIB. Therefore, he said there is urgent need to expand discussions around the PIB beyond just the fiscal provision.

    He said: “It is expected that when PIB is passed, it would result in massive investment flow and those investments will yield revenue for Nigeria. But what the Board is concerned about is the kind of impact the bill on passage will give Nigerians in terms of employment on top of the expected revenue.

    “That type of impact would only come from the investments that result in domiciliation. It is a good thing we have had a three-year head-start in the implementation of the Local Content Act, which has enabled us create some capacities in Nigeria such that as the PIB is being passed and investments come, we would have jobs arising from the investments being executed locally.”

    Nwapa canvassed for industry support for the Board’s initiatives especially the Oil and Gas Industrial Park Scheme and the establishment of a new pipe mill to support the existing SCC Mill in Abuja, adding that when the initiatives become successful, Nigerians would reap immense benefits from them.

    He said: “It is a good thing to get the investments in because we need to increase our revenue intake from oil production, but the real endgame for us is to ensure that as we are getting revenues, we are getting our people to work.

    “Government agencies can only employ a few thousands, but the real employment can come from commercial activities that would arise from our preparedness to expand operations.”

  • Content Board harps on infrastructure, skills devt

    To meet the challenges confronting the oil and gas industry, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has stressed the need for adequate infrastructure and entrepreneurial skills development in the country.

    Speaking during the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Meeting in Lagos, the Executive Secretary of the board, Ernest Nwapa, emphasised the need to build infrastructure and empower entrepreneurs who have the capability but lack the resources to build facilities to key into existing opportunities and use their entrepreneurial skills to create value.

    He said: “We are focusing on two critical factors of production after which they would now use their skills to leap into the next phase of job creation.”

    He said the board is collaborating with international oil companies to educate the contractors and subcontractors on entrepreneurial skills, adding that some of them were already in partnership with the Lagos State Business School.

    “We will continue to encourage the entire industry on the need to use what is made in Nigeria. We believe it would now turn some of these people who have been agitating for opportunities into being employers of labour, because we are not only going to give them that environment, we will use the policy to drive the demand for their products. We will say to the industry that these people can make components of the equipment you are using, get them to do it,” he noted.

    Nwapa expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the Nigerian content measurement. He said the current statistics had shown that Nigeria measures 90 per cent in engineering, 50 per cent in fabrication and seven per cent in manufacturing, adding that the ratio was not encouraging to implant legacy for the future generation, which according to him, entails skills acquisition and creation of jobs in the sector to advance the economy.

    To this end, he said henceforth building of vessels shall be done by local engineers so as to reinforce the internal man craft of the country. “Every contract awarded to foreign companies, there must be 10 per cent mandatory position for jobs that will train engineers within the country in order to develop indigenous skills and grow local supply chain,” he said.

    On industrial parks, Nwapa said though the Nigerian oil and gas industry has the distinctiveness that can drive it speedily and purposefully, he however noted that the board would not hesitate to bring in any state that has an industrial park programme to make sure it is focused and result oriented

    “We believe there is a link between the industry and other sectors, so we are very interested in matching on to what other agencies, including the government are doing. We are going to rally the industry to start using Nigerian services and goods,” he added.

    The President of the Chambers, Thomas Awagu, lamented that the laws guiding the operations of the petroleum industry have been generally inadequate and inconsistent with modern international tendency.

    He said a lot of education is needed to broaden the mind of the populace on matters relating to prospects and challenges of the petroleum industry bill in order to harness sustainable economic development of the sector and the nation in general.

    H said the chamber is committed to ensuring the enhancement of trade and investment between Nigeria and British private sector operators, adding that this would in turn increase business and commerce in the country.

  • $191b expected from oil & gas domiciliation

    $191b expected from oil & gas domiciliation

    The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is working toward the retention of $191 billion from domiciliation of oil and gas activities, which currently are being exported due to lack of indigenous competence and dearth of locally manufactured equipment.

    The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Ernest Nwapa, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the retention of the $191 billion value in-country is expected to be achieved by 2020, adding that the board aims to domicile over 65 per cent of oil and gas industry.

    He noted that part of the value creation would be through the creation of about 300,000 new direct jobs opportunities, which will come from engineering, among other areas of operation in the industry as well as engagement of Nigerians as technicians.

    He explained that the undue export of value, which exists in the oil industry, has been as a result of focus on revenue that accrues from oil and gas production as against focus on developing capacity and manufacture of facilities and equipment locally. “We have been focusing on revenue, which has turned the country into buying and importing.”

    He noted that the board is aggressively reversing the trend.

    Nwapa also spoke on delay in the tendering process for oil and gas contracts in Nigeria, poaching of staff and need for Nigerian companies to come together as a group to seek loans from banks.

    He explained that the reason tendering process for contract awards take much longer in Nigeria is to ascertain that jobs are given to genuine and serious-minded entrepreneurs. Tendering process takes between 18 months and 36 months as against six months or less in other oil producing countries.

    But Nwapa said that to ensure that the objectives of the Nigerian Content Act is achieved, the government should be meticulous in the scrutiny of bidders and claims in order not to give jobs to briefcase- carrying business people.

    Industry operators have over the years complained about the delay, which they said make contracts more expensive than they should be. The NCDMB boss said the process is being improved upon on sustainable basis.

    On poaching of staff by the bigger and richer companies or other competitors, Nwapa said that there is nothing the board can do as it doesn’t have the power to stop people from moving on to offers they consider better but noted that the situation indicates need for serious capacity and skills development.

    He also advised indigenous companies to seek funds from banks as a group especially now that the board plans to partner with some banks to ensure that local companies access funds by paying 50 per cent of their interest rates.

    The board is working on phased increase in indigenous equity to meet the Nigerian Content Act’s requirement to ensure Nigerian companies account for 50 per cent industry activities.

    Nwapa said the board through the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF), is assisting with long term funding and equity financing. The fund is built with one per cent of all upstream contract sums.

    He said 30 per cent of the fund would be for direct intervention for Nigerian companies while the board would shoulder 50 per cent of interest rates for money borrowed by Nigerians firms for projects meant to develop capacity.