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NCDMB collaborates with NLNG on local content implementation

By Roseline Okere 
31 May 2017   |   4:22 am
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), have signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA), committing to compliance...

• Partners Dangote Refinery on capacity utilisation
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), have signed a Service Level Agreement (SLA), committing to compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, and timely approvals of documents respectively.

This comes just at the NCDMB and Dangote Industries Limited agreed to collaborate towards ensuring maximum utilisation of local capacities and capabilities in the construction of the company’s 650,000 barrels per day petroleum refinery plant.

The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, and Managing Director, NLNG, Tony Attah, signed on behalf of their respective organisations in Abuja.

The agreement, which is the first of its kind to be entered between a regulator and another entity in the oil and gas industry, would be adopted as the template for managing documentations, contracting and expatriate quota between the Board and international and local operating companies.

Speaking at the event, Wabote acknowledged that NLNG’s operations were time sensitive, adding that the agreement would ensure that “NLNG is not exposed to violations and NCDMB is not a blocker to the business.”

He said the SLA was a key strategy for shortening the contracting cycle, cutting the cost of projects, and improving compliance with the Content Act.

He also canvassed for greater collaboration between the two organisations, requesting for NLNG’s support towards the development of a drydock facility in the Niger Delta region, to cater for the maintenance of big vessels, including LNG carriers.

Commenting, Attah commended the Board for the speedy development of the agreement, describing it as an innovative way of addressing the company’s concerns, noting that NLNG is bound to comply with the provisions of the Act, but was also pressed by the urgency required in making decisions for its business.

Meanwhile, the Dangote and NCDMB collaboration was reached in Lagos, when Wabote led a team from the Board to meet with the management of the Dangote Group, led by the President, Aliko Dangote.

The Executive Secretary outlined the existing Nigerian Content capacities and capabilities, and how they can contribute to the Dangote Refinery project. Responding to the presentation, the Honorary Adviser to the President, Dangote Group, Joseph Makoju, confirmed that “there are a number of opportunities for collaboration. We want to partner with you and we hope to have mutual beneficial relationships.”

Makoju noted that the company planned to set a record on Local Content accomplishment with the petrochemicals plant, which would be biggest single train refinery in the world.

He identified the Dangote Academy as another platform for collaboration, especially as the institute’s focus will be expanded beyond the cement industry, to include the petroleum industry and other key sectors that the Group operates.

Earlier in his presentation, Wabote commended the President of Dangote Group for investing in manufacturing across various sectors of the economy and creating employments for thousands of Nigerians.

He expressed confidence that the company’s foray into the downstream sector of the petroleum industry would revolutionise the sector and reverse the nation’s dependence on imported petroleum products.

The Executive Secretary informed the Dangote team that the implementation of Nigerian Content Act in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry had developed huge capacities that should be leveraged for the refinery project.

He advised the company to pay assessment visits to oil and gas service companies in Nigeria, to verify their capacities and subsequently contract them in line with the provisions of the Act, which mandates patronage of facilities established in-country.

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