“Mr Tunde Adelana delivered the speech on behalf of Simbi Wabote, the Executive secretary of the NCDMB at the ceremony”. See Speech below:
The Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is a child of necessity. The body arose from a law from the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGIC) ACT, which was enacted in 2010 by 360 members of Nigeria House of Representatives and 109 members of the senate. The law was signed by the then President and the Commander Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The need for NCDMB arose out of an existing gap between what is required in the oil and gas industry and what is existing in our country, Nigeria, concerning facilities, manpower and infrastructure.
The NCDMB mandate centers around the development of in-country capacity and ensuring that the provisions of the law are clearly followed. Hence we are excited to witness the groundbreaking ceremony of BOG’s OCTG Threading & Valve Assembly Plants at Lekki Free Zone, the first of its kind in Lagos state. We believe strongly that it will be one of the most vibrant in the country in the years to come. It is another important milestone in the journey of local content.
We are pleased that the journey has progressed from design, regulatory approvals, legal frameworks, commercial evaluation, financial structure and other necessary paperwork to actual physical development on site.
As we celebrate the nation’s 60th independence anniversary, we believe projects like this are required to terminate our dependence on the massive importation of threaded pipes so we can derive the attendant economic and social benefits.
We are 60 years old as a nation. We need to continue to strive towards full independence. We need to rely more on ourselves and our local input. This facility where we will be able to thread OCTG pipe, assemble and test valves in-country, is a welcome addition to the list of the established plants in the industry that will meet the key energy needs in the axis of the country and beyond.
Our goal in NCDMB is to increase local content growth in the oil and gas sector by 70% by the year 2027 and we are working towards that. We started with less than 5% in 2010.
Beyond our intervention in the local supply chain for in-country utilization, we have broadened our focus to include in-country resource utilization, utilizing in-country skills, in-country competencies, in-country manufactured equipment, inputs, and so on.
We believe that oil pipes used in the Nigerian oil and gas industry should be threaded in-country.
Let me congratulate Bell Oil & Gas on the epic occasion. I believe this will be the beginning of more landmark initiatives for the organization.