The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said that it is working on a new blueprint on the assessment of the $200 million the Bank of Industry (BOI) has set aside as Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund).
The facility was launched in 2017 to provide loans to Nigerian companies involved in manufacturing in the oil and gas industry. Beneficiaries will get $10m, repayable after five years at eight per cent interest rate.
Only three companies out of 100 applicants have secured the fund. But speaking in Lagos on the 2019 Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGF), scheduled for Yenagoa, Bayelsa State April 4-5, NCDMB Executive Secretary, Mr. Simbi Wabote, said the board will, in a couple of weeks, come up with a new strategy that will help indigenous oil companies have access to the $200 million fund with less stress.
He said: “The board is actively looking into it. Today, almost 100 applicants have applied for the fund. But only three companies have succeeded in securing from the facility. Most of the applications are still hanging.”
He said most of the companies cannot meet the conditions put forward by BoI. “However, the board is actively reviewing the process to see what can be done to change that narrative. I am sure in the next couple of weeks, a new blue print on the assessment of the loan will be made public to address the challenge and ensure the fund is strategically utilized,” he said.
He noted that indigenous operators should know that the N200 billion credit is not free money hence the borrower must have capacity to pay back for others to benefit.
One percent of all contracts, subcontracts, projects and activities in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry is statutorily to be deducted and remitted to the NCDF, as stipulated by Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act of 2010.
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