Contracts Awarded To Indigenous Companies Have Increased – Ernest Nwapa

Apparently confirming the many successes of the law since its enactment in year 2010, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, has said that since the enactment of the law, contracts awarded to Nigerian companies have increased tremendously.

Apparently confirming the many successes of the law since its enactment in year 2010, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, has said that since the enactment of the law, contracts awarded to Nigerian companies have increased tremendously.
Nwapa who gave this revelation while delivering a keynote address recently in Lagos said that indigenous Nigeria firms have been awarded between 70 and 85 per cent of the total contracts in the oil and gas industry. He said that the real Nigerian Content value currently hovers between 12 per cent and 18 percent, this according to him is a sharp contrast from the three to five percent recorded two years ago.
He however explained that, even though there has been a marked increase in contracts awarded to indigenous companies, the industry still has a long way to go on recording substantial percentages of real Nigerian Content.
Nwapa lamented that one of the major clog in the wheel of progress of the law is the absence of the local supply chain in Nigeria and the absence of manufacturing activities. This according to him, has reduced the proportion of contract sums spent within the Nigerian economy especially on Nigerian- made goods and services rendered with Nigerian owned assets and equipment.
Nwapa explained that the predominant message captured in the Nigerian content Act is development of local capacity and Nigerians must be determined to pursue this goal in their quest for partnerships.
He stressed that without developing local manufacturing of components used by the industry, there would be no further Nigerian Content growth and creation of employment opportunities would be stunted.
In view of this, the Executive Secretary said the board conceived the Equipment Components Manufacturing Initiative, which seeks to get local representatives of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in Nigeria to partner with such OEMs to set up manufacturing facilities in Nigeria.
Following this, the board has made it mandatory that any equipment that would be supplied for use henceforth in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, certain components must be manufactured locally.