Get Guardian on GoogleNigeria’s local content drive must move beyond measuring indigenous participation in contracts to building industrial capacity that can survive individual projects and compete beyond the country, industry stakeholders have said.
This will be the focus of a closed-door Local Content Roundtable scheduled for November 30 at the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, as part of the opening session of the Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) Forum 2026.
The roundtable will examine the skills, technology, infrastructure and intellectual capacity developed in Nigeria since 2010, and whether local businesses have acquired enough strength to operate beyond projects funded by international oil companies.
Titled: “Building Sustainable Local Capacity: Scaling Capability, Enabling Ownership and Funding Growth,” the discussion will also examine the cost of developing local skills, training, certification, supplier networks and technology transfer, as well as what should remain in the country after project investments have ended.
Portfolio and Country Director, DMG Events, Wemimo Oyelana, said the organisers wanted to move discussions beyond the percentage of local participation to the actual capacity created in the country.
“Every year at PNC, we celebrate the percentage. This year, we wanted a room that explores what that percentage is made of, and how we build on it,” Oyelana said.
She added that the skills, technology and industrial capacity developed through projects over the past 16 years were important assets that needed to be sustained and expanded.
“The Roundtable will bring stakeholders together to define what lasting Nigerian capacity looks like, how it can be measured, and how we grow it at scale,” she said.
The 2026 forum, themed “Defining Strategic Priorities for the Next Decade of Nigerian Content Implementation,” will also introduce three new features: the Local Content Impact Stage, an Executive Debate and Breakout Sessions.
