The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board has stated that it will not license oil service businesses that have not demonstrated the ability to execute projects.
This disclosure was made by the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Energy Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, according to The Punch.
Ogbe described the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements as critical for increased competitiveness and risk reduction involving untrained contractors.
He stated that the exclusion of intermediary entities lacking the necessary capacity to perform from the Nigerian Content Plan, as well as the approval of contractors who meet the legal definition of Nigerian companies and demonstrate capacity to execute projects within Nigeria, would be critical to implementing the presidential directive.
According to Ogbe, the board will ensure that entities acting solely as intermediaries, “with no demonstrable capacity to execute projects or activities shall not be approved”.
He pledged that the board will continue to use its existing mechanisms to assess and verify the capacity of companies, facilitating and carrying out in-country capacity audits in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.
On enhancement of cost competitiveness of oil and gas projects, he said operators in the industry would only be permitted to source capacities out-of-country only after in-country capacity gaps have been identified.
“Tender opportunity’s pre-qualification and technical evaluation phases would be used to eliminate entities identified as incapable of performing,” he stated.
The NCDMB boss noted that international players’ participation will be considered appropriate only when the essential Nigerian content level is unavailable locally or ineffective.
He reiterated the board’s commitment to ensuring that any services provided add value to the country and that it would evaluate current policies and guidelines to encourage the development of Indigenous capabilities while ensuring that they were not misused, misapplied, or misinterpreted.
Meanwhile, the Director of Projects Certification and Authorisation Certificate at the NCDMB, Abayomi Bamidele explained that the NCDMB had facilitated oil and gas growth through its policies, collaboration, and investments.
He stated that approximately 1,000 Nigerian service companies were registered on the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Joint Qualification System in 2011 and that the number has since climbed to 13,000, with 120 functioning organizations.
He urged service providers to only take jobs that they have the technical capacity to complete, and to abandon the practice of bidding on every work in the oil and gas industry.
