NCDMB to make fund easily accessible

Yearnings by oil and gas industry stakeholders for easy access to the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) will soon be addressed by the new guidelines to be released by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

Simbi Wabote ,the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, confirmed that the Board would come up with a transparent guideline on the application and utilization of the Fund that will give comfort to the stakeholders and ensure that the intendments of the Fund were realised.

NCDF was established by Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010 for the purpose of increasing Nigerian Content in the Oil and gas Industry by addressing the paucity of funding faced by manufacturers, service providers and other key players.The Fund is pooled from one per cent of every contract awarded in the upstream sector of the industry and is managed by the Board.

The new step intended to be taken by the NCMDB was part of the outcomes of the 6th Practical Nigerian Content Conference held in Abuja.

The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Simbi Wabote confirmed that the Board would come up with a transparent guideline on the application and utilization of the Fund that will give comfort to the stakeholders and ensure that the intendments of the Fund were realised.

Other resolutions of the conference included the commitment of the NCDMB to set timelines for responding to documents referred to itas part of strategies to shorten the contracting cycle.

The Board also announced that it will expand its operations to the midstream and downstream sectors of the Oil and Gas industry in line with Section 106 of the Nigerian Content Act. The NCDMB also pledged to support efforts to implement Local Content across other sectors of the economy, including Power, ICT and Construction. Operators of those sectors were challenged to develop and use bespoke regulations to guide the implementation of Local Content in their industries pending the development of relevant statutes.

Participants also stressed the need for collaboration between the Board, operators and the academia to enhance Research and Development and charged the Board to pursue the adoption of select institutions under Adopt a Faculty Initiative.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Waboteannounced that the Board would soon unveil a 5-year road map that will chart a new Nigerian Content implementation paththat will increase value addition in the industry and bring tangible benefits to Nigerians.He confirmed that the Board is reinvigorating the development of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme (NOGAPS) as part of efforts to domicile manufacturing of oil and gas components close to oil fields and involve local businesses in operations of the industry.

According to him, the identified sites for the parks have been acquired and paid for, whiledetailed design willsoon begin.“We have set a timeline for every milestone we intend to achieve in the next couple of months; at least we should have one up and running to test the benefits before we replicate,” he said.

 

Olusola Bello