NCDMB: Local Content Interventions Retain $10bn, Generate 50,000 Jobs in Nigeria’s Oil Sector

• Dangote: Local content must not be seen as regulatory burden •NCDMB calls for technology transfer, sustainable financing The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has disclosed that interventions to deepen indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry have retained more than $10 billion in the Nigerian economy and generated over 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. The interventions, it stressed, have also supported more than 50 million man-hours of training, reflecting efforts to develop the technical expertise and industrial capacity required to increase Nigerian participation across the energy value chain. The figures were disclosed by the Board’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics and Chairman of the NCDMB/Dangote Joint Technical Committee, Omomehin Ajimijaye, at a strategic retreat of the committee in Lagos at the weekend. The retreat, organised in collaboration with the Dangote Group, brought together stakeholders from the oil and gas industry and relevant government institutions to examine ways of moving Nigerian content beyond statutory compliance towards sustainable industrial development. Ajimijaye urged contractors, vendors and service providers operating within the Dangote business ecosystem to comply with Nigerian content requirements, register on the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Joint Qualification System (NOGICJQS) and strengthen their participation in the industry. He explained that the Board’s regulatory framework was designed to facilitate business growth and deepen indigenous participation rather than create unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks. He identified Nigerian content planning, workforce localisation, local procurement and capacity development as the four key pillars of compliance, stressing that companies bidding for projects were expected to demonstrate how they would maximise indigenous participation. Employers, he added, were expected to prioritise qualified Nigerians, procure goods and services available locally and invest in skills development and technology transfer. On expatriate employment, Ajimijaye said foreign personnel could be engaged where genuine skills gaps existed, but companies were expected to work with the Board to establish those gaps and develop succession plans to prepare Nigerians to take over such positions progressively. He described NOGICJQS as an important digital platform for supplier registration, prequalification, capacity verification and validation of technical expertise. Reliable industry data, he said, would enable the Board to identify skills shortages, connect businesses with qualified professionals and direct training investments to areas of greatest need. Ajimijaye commended the Dangote Group for collaborating with the Board since around 2019 to develop the capacity of Nigerians through training at local and overseas institutions, noting that some beneficiaries had subsequently secured employment within the group’s businesses. He also called for sustained investment in research and development to stimulate indigenous innovation, improve competitiveness and enable Nigerian companies to export technical expertise. In his keynote address, the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Felix Ogbe, represented by the Senior Technical Adviser and Director of Project Certification and Authorisation, Austin Uzoka, identified commitment, technology and financing as fundamental to building a resilient Nigerian content ecosystem. Ogbe challenged industry stakeholders to look beyond compliance with regulations and address the long-term sustainability of major industrial investments, particularly the development of domestic supply chains and technical capabilities to operate and maintain critical infrastructure. He cited the experience of Nigeria’s publicly owned refineries as a reminder of the importance of sustaining industrial assets, stressing the need to develop the goods, works, services and supply-chain capabilities required to support the continuous operations of the Dangote refinery. He argued that constructing world-class industrial facilities was only part of the task, adding that Nigeria must also build the indigenous expertise needed to maintain them and ensure that the economic benefits of such investments remained within the country. Ogbe also identified access to finance as a major constraint facing indigenous businesses, noting that high interest rates and delays in obtaining funds could prevent local enterprises from executing projects, expanding operations and competing effectively in the oil and gas value chain. He urged industry stakeholders to support emerging Nigerian industrialists seeking to establish refineries and related facilities, arguing that a stronger domestic refining sector would help position Nigeria as a major oil and gas hub. In his welcome address, the Dangote Group Vice President, Edwin Devakumar, called for a shift from a compliance-driven approach to a culture of national responsibility and commitment. He maintained that laws and regulations alone could not deliver sustainable Nigerian content unless individuals, businesses and institutions genuinely embraced the responsibility of building the country’s productive capacity. “For sustainable Nigerian content development to succeed, it must not be seen as a regulatory burden. Every individual must regard it as something they genuinely want to do from the bottom of their heart,” he said. Devakumar stressed that local content should extend beyond sourcing raw materials to include skills transfer, workforce development and the growth of indigenous contractors into businesses capable of executing increasingly complex projects. For his part, the NCDMB Director of Legal Services, Naboth Onyesoh, called for stronger coordination among regulatory institutions, saying investment promotion, petroleum regulation and Nigerian content compliance should work together to advance national economic interests. He said investment incentives offered within free zones did not exempt operators from applicable federal laws, including Nigerian content requirements and relevant petroleum regulations. “An incentive regime is a business advantage; it is not a regulatory exception,” Onyesoh said. He urged the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) and other government agencies to strengthen information sharing and resolve operational challenges jointly, arguing that coordinated regulation would improve the ease of doing business, boost investor confidence and create jobs. Onyesoh also highlighted efforts to strengthen indigenous maritime capacity through the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF), which supports local companies seeking to acquire vessels and expand their operations.