By Olatunde Dodondawa
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has decried high rate of non-compliance to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content (NOGIC) Act by indigenous oil firms in the oil and gas sector.
Speaking during a media briefing on the forthcoming Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair 2019 (NOGOF 2019) on Thursday in Lagos, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote, stated that in terms of compliance to the NOGIC Act, the International Oil Companies (IOCs) are the most complaint and not the indigenous oil companies.
“In terms of compliance, the IOCs are the most complaint of the NOGIC Act 2010 compared to indigenous players. If there are people who flout the Act, they are the indigenous players (oil firms) who have benefited from the Act. When you put the measure of compliant between the IOCs and the indigenous operators, I see the clear tendency by the indigenous operators to want to circumvent the provisions of the Act which to me is an irony.
“People who benefited from a process are now the ones who are actively working to circumvent the Act. The IOCs’ corporate governance structure is very strict. They also go through international scrutiny, so they tried as much as possible to comply,” he said.
On the strategy adopted by the NCDMB to promote compliance, Wabote stated that “Our strategy has always been a pragmatic approach to implementation of the Act. We don’t read the Act like a bible. We have to compare between existing capabilities and capacities; are they available at all or available now to address a particular challenge; when do we build capacity up; are we going to build them in a couple of years’ time because, don’t forget that oil and gas is a mainstay of our economy and if we don’t manage it properly, we will shut down businesses as well as shut down our future as a country.
“So we use a pragmatic approach in terms of implementing the Act itself. And we made tremendous progress compare to other sectors, be it construction or Information Technology. Today, every other wants to model its local content implementation to oil and gas sector which we are also actively supporting them to do.”
On the difference between Practical Nigeria Conference (PNC) and NOGOF, he posited that “PNC focuses on policy thrust and direction of the oil and gas sector vis-a-vis the Local Content Act itself and how the Act will enable the implementation of the policy direction of the government as well as the industry.
“NOGOF is a platform with which you share potential opportunities in the oil and gas sector so that investors, service providers, contractors would know what it the plan in the next five years. It is a very distinct platform that we use to manage various stakeholders’ goals. There is no overlap as long as I’m concerned.”
The NOGOF, which will be organized by Jake Riley Ltd, will hold between 4-5, April, 2019, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria and oil and gas stakeholders will grace the fair.
