NNPC restates commitment to local content
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has reiterated its commitment to comply with the nation’s local content laws so as to further strengthen in-country value addition in the oil and gas industry.
Maikanti Kacalla Baru, Group Managing Director of the Corporation, disclosed this at the 2016 Oil Industry Achievement Awards & Dinner organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) in Lagos.
Baru who spoke on the theme “Local Content Compliance in an Extended Low Oil Price Environment,” said that over the years, NNPC has been at the forefront of championing local content even before the enactment of the Local Act in 2010.
He said in the NNPC determination to maximize participation of Nigerians in its projects and domicile project activities in-country, the NNPC have been implementing the Nigerian Content Policy as enshrined in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act even before the enactment of the act in 2010,” he said.
The NNPC boss stated that as early as 2005, NNPC was deeply concerned with the low level of Nigerian Content in-country, despite the nation’s almost fifty (50) years of oil industry experience.
“That was why we called for a fresh approach to domesticating oil and gas industry spend through the establishment of the Nigerian Content Division (NCD) with the aim of implementing key national content initiatives,” he added.
According to him, “some of these key local content initiatives, he said, include the promotion of local manufacturing of steel plates and pipes as well as the development of engineering design expertise among Nigerian engineers.
He described Nigerian Content Policy as “a catalyst for the nation’s industrialisation” saying that the policy was been tested as a result of the current volatility in oil prices witnessed globally.
He therefore called for “a paradigm shift” in accordance with a new operating philosophy that would lay emphasis on in-country manufacturing, job creation, skills and technology development, capital retention, research and development as well as fostering sectoral linkages with other critical sectors of the nation’s economy.
“Nigeria needs to claw back most fabrication work and other services in the industry from foreign yards – thereby increasing the contribution of the industry to the nation’s GDP. It is our goal to achieve much more,” Baru further noted.
He charged PETAN to strengthen its resolve so as to vigorously pursue the domestication of petroleum technology by striving for fair and extensive patronage into a new phase, taking into consideration the current realities of the industry.
OLUSOLA BELLO