The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, has said that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector attracted over $60 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the past 12 years, following the enactment and implementation of the Local Content Act.
Wabote, who gave this figure in an interview on his achievements since he assumed office six years ago, noted that the NCDMB, through the implementation of its 10-year strategic roadmap, had also achieved 47 percent local content by ensuring that about $7 billion is committed yearly to local contracts in the hydrocarbon resources industry.
He clarified: “If I just extrapolate in terms of the yearly spend before now in the industry, it is put at $21 billion year-on-year. So, today, we have clawed back $7 billion of industry spend into the country every year.
“A typical example is the Egina project. Egina which is almost $21 billion, majority of the fabrication was done in-country including topside integration, which was never done in Africa”, Wabote added.
Wabote cited the Egina, which is the largest FPSO in the country today with production capacity of 200,000 barrels of oil per day as a strong testimonial that the Local Content Act is achieving its objectives.
According to him, 200,000 barrels per day is huge in terms of the facility’s production and this means the country has clawed back almost $7 billion yearly.
He further explained: “Our aim is to get $14 billion into the country with regards to our 70 per cent by 2027, because the truth is, you cannot achieve 100 per cent Local Content. It’s not possible because you also have to depend on a lot of countries in terms of intellectual property rights, and you cannot manufacture everything.
“So, that 30 per cent we are leaving is for what we get outside. What used to happen was that 95 per cent of everything was done outside this country, and we have been pushing the envelope, and now, we have attracted this much in terms of monetary value and in terms of percentage”, the Executive Secretary added.
He explained that the $7 billion made from 2010 till date was not the FDI referred to, pointing out that “what we have done is that we have retained that $7 billion in the country. What Foreign Direct Investment in the oil and gas industry has attracted for that period is almost over $60 billion.”
Wabote described the implementation of the NCDMB’s 10-Year Strategic Road Map as very key and strategic to the progress made so far in the country’s local content development initiative as today about 47 percent in terms of the growth of local content had been achieved.
