Oil & gas stakeholders advocate new local content strategy for Africa

Stakeholders and policy leaders in Africa’s Oil and Gas, and other related sectors, have unanimously advocated a new local content strategy.

At the maiden edition of the African Local Content Roundtable in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, they said the new strategy should have a focus on adequate regulatory framework, funding, human capacity development and strategic Research and Development (R&D) with effective gaps analysis to positively drive the local content narrative.

The stakeholders agreed that funding is critical to driving local content, especially with the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Kesiye Wabote, while setting the context at the Pan-African engagement, harped on the need for a strong regulatory framework as part of the efforts by the Nigerian government to make local content a core part of the national energy policy framework.

Wabote recalled that the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content (NOGICD Act) 2010 as established, makes the NCDMB the sole regulator of Oil and Gas in Nigeria.

He said, “A sustainable local content practice requires that the right regulatory framework is put in place, regular gap analysis and the setting of targets for gap closure. The right resources including funding and incentives are required to build capacities and capabilities. R&D is the key drivers to bring innovation and avoid obsolescence.”

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said Africa must come up with policies that will further deepen the conversations on local content administration.

He added that the success story of the NCDMB as the champion of local content practice in Africa has led to the extension of local content services to other sectors in Nigeria and Africa at large.

Sylva regretted that decades of exploration of hydrocarbon in Nigeria have not translated into sustainable growth, stressing that the African Local Content Roundtable will henceforth be a “signatory event”.

He said Nigeria must also look to explore its 303 billion cubic feet of gas reserves.

Secretary-General of African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), Omar Farouk Ibrahim, said there is need to put resources together before it is late to harness Africa’s oil products.

He further stated that as a result of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization is now committed to ensuring that hydrocarbon emissions are curtailed, as well as the continents’ over-dependence on oil, stressing that it has become paramount for every nation to have its refinery and gas plants.