Local Content Act: Nigerians Win 87% Of Oil, Gas Contracts – Minister
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, says the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act has increased the level of participation of Nigerians in oil and gas contracts to 87 per cent of total industry contracts, describing it as a first step towards domiciliation of spend and local value addition.
She stated that the implementation of the Act in the past 30 months has deepened the Nigerian oil and gas local supply chain and increased industry man-hours performed by Nigerians by over 350 per cent resulting in over 30,000 direct productive jobs.
Alison-Madueke who was speaking at a meeting of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Abuja recently, said the jobs were generated in engineering, fabrication, exploration and production, marine transportation and logistics sectors.
The minister who doubles as the chairman of the Council, expressed optimism that the job growth trajectory will not only be sustained but also drive multipliers across industries following the integration of youths training into the implementation process.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, explained that the Nigerian Content implementation model was focussed on growing and utilising in-country capacity, while operators are made to consider long term value addition.
But the National President of the Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria (OGSPAN), Mazi Colman Obasi, in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, stated that the Act was not benefiting indigenous service providers in the oil and gas industry.
He maintained that he was yet to see any indigenous service provider in the industry whose fortunes have been turned around as a result of the passage of the law. “All we hear is that they have achieved 10 per cent and 20 per cent. Let them make public the list of beneficiaries instead of percentages, Nigerians who are in the industry are complaining,” Obasi said.
According to him, “what they (IOCs) now do is to register a company and appoint one or two Nigerians as directors in the companies and call it Nigerian company and those companies are the ones they give jobs to.”
No comments:
Post a Comment