NCDMB partners NLNG to open virtual platform for oil project tenders

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said it is partnering with the Nigeria LNG Limited to create a virtual platform containing oil sector project tenders, at an industry conference in Abuja, Monday.

Known as the Oil and Gas E-Market Place, this is part of a key provision in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. It is a virtual platform that allows buyers and sellers of goods and services in the oil and gas industry initiate speedy and transparent transactions.

Simbi Wabote, executive secretary of the NCDMB said it would be a phased roll-out starting with the Nigerian LNG Limited.

He said a joint working committee comprising members of the company and the Board was formed to co-create the Blueprint for the Phase-1 implementation of the E-Marketplace, while subsequent phases of the project will include members of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), and the other stakeholder groups.

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Wabote in his speech at the annual Nigerian Oil and Gas conference, listed some of the initiatives to support local oil and gas firms to include the $300million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund with the Bank of Industry (BoI), the $100million Matched Fund with NEXIM Bank, the $50million R&D Intervention Fund and the $50million NOGAPS Manufacturing Fund.

However, a large share of these funds remain untapped. Some panel members highlighted a plethora of challenges including an unfriendly regulatory and fiscal regimes, ease of doing business constraints and lack of talent.

The NCDMB boss observed that there are severe challenges negating manufacturing in the oil and gas industry, which is why the Board is developing the NOGAPS Industrial Parks to provide modern infrastructure using the “sites and services” model to support in-country manufacturing.

He said the Industrial Parks are at various stages of development in seven states namely Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, and Ondo states, hinting that“the NOGAPS Industrial Parks at Odukpani in Cross River state and the one at Emeyal-1 in Bayelsa state are both at advanced stages of completion and will commence operations in 2024.