Indigenous producers pledge compliance to Nigerian Content Act
Members of the Indigenous Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG)have pledged to henceforth support and comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD)Act.
To cement their commitment, the local operating companies will sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) withthe Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and this will guide the submission and management of statutory reports between both parties.
The new SLA, akin to the type signed between the Board and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) in May 2017, willcommit members of the IPPG to compliance with the Nigerian Content Act while the Boardwill keep to a definite response time for reviews and approvals of contracting documentations. The SLA will take into consideration the capacity of the indigenous producing companies and provide necessary concessions as maybe necessary.
These resolutions were reached at a meeting between Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, and members of the IPPG in Lagos .
The independent producers also promised to partner the Board to equip the Petroleum Technology Development Fund’s Vocational Training facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the purposes of impartingkey skills that are currently lacking in the industry.
Wabote explained at the meeting that indigenous producers were products of the Nigerian ContentPolicy hence they needed to work with the Board to take the implementation to the next level.
He stressed that Nigerian ContentAct was not applicable to only foreign companies buttoall players in the oil and gas industry. “Some Nigerian companies assume erroneously that being wholly indigenous makes them complaint. But Local Content extends to employment, procurement, training among other things.”
The Executive Secretary further challenged the indigenous producers to partner the Board to developResearch and Development Centres of excellencein-country so that problems encountered in theiroperations can be resolvedlocally. “The international operating companies have huge R&D facilities in their home countries. We can only set up R&D centres in Nigeria with the support of indigenous producers.”
He also tasked the companies on the remittance of Nigerian Content Development Fund’s deductions. He reiterated that the Board will soon commission third-party forensic audit totrack and recover due payments on the NCDF.
Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, chairman of IPPG, pledged the readiness of the members to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act. “We want to participate in the Nigerian Content journey and we are ready to engage with the Board to take our projects to the next level,” he said.
He further explained that IPPG was constituted by 25 indigenous operators, including joint venture partners ofthe NNPC, marginal field operators and indigenous sole risk operators. According to him, “we ensure corporate governance among ourselves, help to put a respectable face to indigenous producers and offer government a credible platform to engage. We account for between 12/25 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil production.”
Olusola Bello