House, NCDMB give kudos to Local Content implementation at LADOL FTZ

Following the successful implementation of Local Content Law at its Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the House of Representatives on Local Content together with the management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), has rated Local Content implementation by the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL), high.

The House Committee members, who were recently on a joint tour of LADOL Oil and Gas Free Zone (LFZ) with the management of the board, described the Free Zone as one of the success stories of the local content administration in Nigeria.

Amy Jadesimi, managing director of LADOL, conducted the team round the facility which includes the Egina project yard, where the company is currently serving as local content partner to Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) in the fabrication of a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform, said to be the first in Africa.

Obah Patrick, executive secretary of the NCDMB, who noted that the role of the board as a regulatory agency is not only to support service providers, but also to ensure that they operate within the ambit of the law, as enshrined in the Local Content law of 2010.

“LADOL has invested so much in Nigeria, and as an indigenous company, we must continue to support and encourage them, because what we have seen is huge, not only in investment but in capacity development for the country.”

He, however, noted that it has become necessary for the board to expand its scope of supervisory role in the industry by setting up an observatory office within the yard. “We have taken a decision to open an NCDMB evaluation office in LADOL to make sure that their activities are well monitored and that information sharing is optimal,” he said.

Also speaking, Emmanuel Ekon, chairman of the Committee, who said that though the committee has a duty to carry out its oversight functions, also stated that the visit was to celebrate with LADOL for taking the yard from a Greenfield status to a world-class ship building facility.

“Having heard so much about LADOL in the past, I became one of those who could stand and tell the outside world about the success story of LADOL and I am proud to say that LADOL is part of the success of the Local Content story we have seen in the Oil and Gas sector today.”

As a committee, he pointed that they have the responsibility to support companies like LADOL to succeed, even if it means putting legislative framework in place or amending existing laws to make the industry better.

This, he said, is because there is need to encourage the efforts of indigenous companies like LADOL that have demonstrated faith by investing in Nigeria’s economy. “We are delighted to have Nigerians like you who invested as much as $600 million in the country. We have a lot of Nigerians who are much richer with billions of dollars and would rather take such funds outside the country, but you have chosen to use yours to impact lives,” he said.

Nonetheless, he called on other local investors to demonstrate the same faith in Nigeria by investing in-country especially in other sectors of the economy.

Earlier in his welcome speech, Ladi Jadesimi, executive chairman of LADOL, said the initiative was taken to establish LADOL about a decade ago, considering the fact that the industry was largely in the hands of foreign operators. To him, as a complete privately developed indigenous free zone, it has become tough to carry on in the face of stringent opposition.

“We are therefore calling on government at all levels to support our effort by not giving vent to monopoly so that the spate of development in the industry would gradually witness the involvement of more indigenous players because other investors would be encouraged to do more than LADOL is doing today,” he added.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie