The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has warned operators in Nigeria’s midstream oil and gas segment to comply strictly with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010 or risk sanctions, including project withdrawal, suspension and criminal prosecution.

The board also reaffirmed that obtaining the Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate (NCEC) attracts zero processing fees, banned the use of middlemen in its transactions and declared that expired or misapplied NCECs would lead to automatic disqualification from tenders.

The warning was delivered at the NCDMB Sensitisation Workshop for Midstream Companies and Stakeholders in Lagos, where the board deployed a five-directorate technical team to strengthen compliance enforcement in the fast-growing midstream segment.

Opening the workshop, the Acting Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Omomehin Ajimijaye, said the engagement underscored the Board’s resolve to extend Nigerian content enforcement beyond the upstream sector and the Niger Delta.

Ajimijaye outlined four objectives of the engagement: deepening understanding of the NOGICD Act; clarifying statutory reporting templates; addressing midstream-specific compliance challenges and strengthening collaboration between the Board and operators.

The Director of Capacity Building, Abayomi Bamidele, reinforced statutory obligations on employment and training.

Bamidele highlighted the NCDMB Field Readiness Initiative, designed to bridge workforce gaps created by retirements and emigration, and to expand opportunities for OND, HND and BSc holders via the NOGIC JQS portal. He reiterated that NCEC processing is completely free, middlemen are prohibited, and companies must own, not lease, certified equipment.

In a technical presentation, the Supervisor, Project Certification and Authorisation Directorate, Elvis Ogede, said every operator is statutorily required to submit a Nigerian Content Plan in line with Sections 7 and 8 of the Act.

“With respect to your scope of work, we expect you to set targets. These targets are achievable, not just aspirations — with the capacity that exists in-country,” Ogede said.

He explained that operators must engage the board at five mandatory points, including submission of the Nigerian Content Plan, approval of selective or sole-source contracting strategies, review of invitation-to-tender documents, participation in bid openings and submission of technical and commercial evaluation reports before issuance of the Nigerian Content Compliance Commitment (NCCC).

Clarifying the regulatory shift, Ogede stressed that the NCCC is not a retrospective certification.

He warned that the memorandum of association can no longer substitute for a valid NCEC, that expired NCECs are disqualifying, and that service-specific certification is mandatory.

“Nobody should expect to use a consultancy, the NCEC for fabrication work and then complain when disqualified,” he added.

The Deputy Manager, Midstream Monitoring Division, Damola Aderibigbe, said the Board’s monitoring framework spans performance, compliance and intervention monitoring across the value chain.

“We do not just monitor activities, we measure performance against commitment,” he said, listing 14 statutory reports required from companies and identifying late or incomplete submissions as the most frequent compliance failures.

Also speaking, the Supervisor, Planning, Research and Statistics Directorate, Emmanuel Paulker, disclosed that 406,000 individuals and 11,445 companies, including 115 operators, are registered on the NOGIC JQS portal, though much of the midstream sector remains outside the system.

“Anything outside that process is a contravention of the law,” Paulker said, warning that companies must obtain the Board’s approval before approaching the Federal Ministry of Interior for expatriate quota applications.