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Content board rejects 179 expatriate quota requests

Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has rejected a total of 179 expatriate quota (EQ) requests while 889 requests received the blessing of the board.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote who spoke at the 12th Practical Nigerian Content Forum with the theme: Deepening Nigerian Content amidst Divestments, Domestication and Decarbonisation, in Bayelsa State, said the regime of expatriate quota approval is been declining over the last five years.

He said this year, a total of 1,156 EQs were approved at the end of November compared to 889 approved last; 328 EQs were compared, 179 rejected last year.

Wabote said NCDMB has completed 83per cent of the 96 initiatives under its strategic roadmap. The focus is now shifting to the remaining initiatives that require some heavy lifting to bring into fruition.

In the roadmap, the technical operations data in NOGIC-JQS showed that the number of registered industry operators moved from 53 in 2018 to 114 in 2023 representing about 100 per cent increase. Within the same period, service companies increased from 8,000 to 11,000 while individual registrations increased from 140,000 to almost 400,000.

Certification of Nigerian Content (NC) Plans increased from 178 in 2022 to 255 in 2023 while the approved NC Compliance Certificates dropped from 197 in 2022 to 168 in 2023.

It's believed the higher certified NC Plans in 2023 will soon translate to approved contracts with NC Compliance Certificates as the industry gets accustomed to the policy directions of the new government. To shorten contracting cycle to a max of six months, a new SLA-MoU has been signed with industry operators and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited.

NCDMB had at the end of 2017 launched a 10-year Strategic Roadmap aimed at increasing Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry to 70 per cent by the year 2027.

The board had rolled out five pillars and four enablers to drive the focus areas under the roadmap, each supported with short, medium, and long-term initiatives.

The Executive Secretary said the expatriate quota approval has been trending down from up till 2021 when it started an upward trend largely due attributed to the post-COVID-19 business recovery, newly sanctioned projects such as Train-7, and the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021.

According to him, under the Technical Capability Development pillar of the roadmap, the in-country fabrication capacity moved from 60,000tons per year to 250,000tons/year.

Under this pillar, the board has transformed two of the portfolio of NOGAPS sites from bare land to industrial parks to support in-country manufacturing and assembly of equipment and input materials required for exploration and production activities.

While these two NOGAPS sites are essentially ready for commissioning, the board is keen to operationalize it by having manufacturing activities in place which is scheduled for first half of next year, the Executive Secretary revealed.

Wabote said a total of 37 applications have been received for allocation of service plots and or shop floors so far, adding that the process of allocation of serviced plots to manufacturers is in top-gear and so far, service plots/ shop floors have been allocated to six companies.

At the moment, the board has reached an advanced stage in their review of the Business Plans of intending tenants adding another batch of allocations will soon be made.

Earlier, the board set up a dedicated $50million fund to co-finance industry research and development activities.

The Executive Secretary said the Research and Development Fund led to the development of Amal Tech Smoke Alarm Detector Facility that will be commissioned soon in Abuja.

The board also created Centers of Excellence for research and development in six Nigerian Universities as well as created the Technology Incubation and Innovation Center to incubate innovative ideas/startups.

Wabote said Seventeen start-up companies had successfully concluded Training at the NCDMB Technology Incubation and Innovation Centre (TIIC).

On Human Capacity Development, Wabote said the board identified existing technical/vocational or craft centers and carried out intervention programs to strengthen the institutions including Government Technical College in Abak, Akwa Ibom State, GTC Port Harcourt, GTC Amoli, University of Ibadan, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University, University of Lagos, Nigerian Maritime University, and many others.

The HCD programs, according to him have enabled training and provision of sea-time exposure to marine cadets, underwater divers, boat builders, and NDT Level-3 certified engineers.

In his welcome address, the Chairman, Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Abdul Razaq Isa IPPG hereby re-affirms its commitment to continue to partner with NCDMB, as it aims to strengthen in country capacity and increase Nigerian Content for the benefit of the industry and the county.

Isa noted the NCDMB since inception on 2016 has delivered unprecedented milestones and been a shining example, not just in the industry but the nation in general on how a best-in-class government agency should operate.

He admitted these strides have definitely laid a solid foundation for the growth and development Nigerian Content in the years to some.

He expressed the optimism that the vigour with which the local content policy has been implemented, we are able to get it right for the long-term growth of our industry.