…says AFCFTA is very key

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has suggested a strategy through which Africa can achieve robust local content development in the oil and gas industry.

According to Simbi Wabote, executive secretary of  NCDMB, who was one of the key speakers at the 7th edition of the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) in Lagos, Nigeria, he said, taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) presents a critical legal framework that can be leveraged to achieve the collaborative local content strategy in Africa.

The theme of the conference is “Sub-Saharan Africa Local Content Collaboration Strategies”.

 The NCDMB boss stated that the main objectives of the strategy were to explore ways to break down barriers, promote cross-border collaboration amongst governments and businesses, provide peer review mechanisms, and share experiences and ideas on industry sustainability and growth.

He said for the strategy to work, there is need to address, legal framework, funding, infrastructure, human capacity development, and research and development.

 The advent of AfCFTA, he stated, created the world’s largest free trade area by integrating 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries, with the objective of tapping into a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over 3 trillion dollars.

 “There is collaboration platform that will present gains to the entire African continent and it is in recognition of the opportunities that AfCFTA presents that Nigeria has started working towards unleashing the collaboration potentials,” he said.

He recognised the AfCFTA as the practice of local content on the continental level and commended the foresight of the League of African Leaders who adopted AfCFTA in 2012 at the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He said that investment in infrastructure had a significant impact on the economic growth of any nation.

Wabote cited a study carried out in the year 2020 by GI Hub found that the economic multiplier for public investment, including infrastructure, was one and a half times greater than the initial investment in two to five years.

“This is much higher than other forms of public spending.

For instance, he said that the Dangote Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Company – with an installed capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) which is expected to come on stream within the year will afford Nigeria and other African countries the partnership opportunities for sourcing petroleum products and fertiliser.

Also, the recently commissioned Lekki Free Zone and facilities like the SHI-MCI FPSO Fabrication/ Integration in Lagos equally presents opportunities for collaboration for the construction of FPSO and other offshore oil and gas facilities.

“These infrastructures and others that exist in various parts of the African continent provide massive opportunities for cross-border energy collaboration among African countries.

“Similarly, infrastructure like the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP) and the ongoing AKK gas transmission infrastructure provides a means for serving regional and African markets.

“The developmental strategies to start from a cluster within a country and grow organically across borders continue to work well in the provision of roads, gas pipelines, fiber-optic cables, railways, and other infrastructure across the continent,” the executive secretary noted.

He told participants at the event that the Board was developing across seven locations in Nigeria adding that “this represents one of the ways it is providing infrastructure for the manufacturing of components to serve local and regional markets in a collaborative way”.

He said, “We are on track to complete major construction works at the sites by the end of this year.

“Let me use this opportunity to invite interested businesses and investors in the area of manufacturing in any of these industrial parks to contact the Board for allocation of plots for development.”

In his opening remark at the conference, Nicolas Odinuwe, Chairman, PETAN, he said that SAIPEC is one of the premier annual energy conferences within sub-Sahara Africa, bringing together hundreds of local and international companies including technology providers and regulators to inform on domestic and international energy sector developments,business transactions and cross border collaborations.  Energy is core to the economies of 55 members states that constitute Africa. 

 “As part of ways to harness and sustain the sub-Sahara energy market, PETAN has continue to reach out to other regions and bodies for partnerships/collaboration and Support: including  An African local content business e-platform,(A one stop collation of available opportunities, capacities and capabilities within the sub-Sahara – currently being developed by the local content associations & will be lunched by 3rd quarter 2023) , Integrated one -skill passport for welding and related practices with TWF,  African local content funding (coordinated by NCDMB),”

He said PETAN Seal of quality(PSQ) launched few years ago is being expanded to be industry inclusive in partnership with NCDMB and relevant stakeholders.

“ Our collaborations have also extended to Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Angola, Guyana etc.”

 “With AFCFTA, African Union should consider a unified/ integrated African certification/standard as practiced in America, European Union, Britain etc. We should seriously consider eliminating multiple certifications domiciled outside our sphere and the associated huge foreign exchange impact. (An indirect and continued colonial vestige). These institutions outside Africa (supported by their governments) have made our respective standardization agencies confined to just names.  The TWF personnel certifications/skill passport is a step in the right direction.”