Job creation: NCDMB identifies key skill areas for capacity building

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has identified key skill areas where it will focus its capacity-building efforts to create optimal job opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Board, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, these skill areas include underwater welding, subsea engineering, geosciences, project management, deepwater operations (drilling and production engineering), as well as instrumentation and controls.

Others include digitalization—such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)—and helicopter piloting, with training delivered through both classroom and hands-on approaches. Ogbe disclosed this in his keynote address at the ongoing Africa Energy Week (AEW), where he highlighted Nigeria’s success story in local content development.

In his keynote address, entitled “From Policy to Prosperity: Scaling Local Content for Africa’s Energy Future,” the Executive Secretary stressed that no policy succeeds without people. He explained that challenges such as infrastructure gaps and financing limitations should not be reasons to slow down but rather opportunities to deepen collaboration among government, operators, service companies, and host communities to co-create solutions.

He pointed out that these challenges also present opportunities for African countries to harmonize local content policies, create regional supply chains, and leverage continental institutions such as the emerging African Energy Bank. He further urged African nations to ensure that the skills of their citizens, the creativity of entrepreneurs, and the strength of their institutions shape the future of Africa’s energy sector.

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Represented by the Director of Corporate Services at the NCDMB, Dr. Abdulmalik Halilu, Ogbe noted that the local content strategy developed by the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) for member countries, as well as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) policy of the African Union, are clear pathways to fostering trade-based multilateral cooperation within the continent.

He emphasized that scaling local content requires human capital development and deployment, infrastructure development, technology and innovation, cross-border collaboration and partnerships (through common standards, tariffs, and demand), in addition to policy harmonization.

On Nigeria’s local content journey, Ogbe noted that in-country value addition has risen to 57 per cent, up from five per cent in 2010 when the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act came into effect. He explained that the overarching objective is to position Nigeria as the destination of choice for investment in exploration and production (E&P), but more importantly, to create jobs for citizens, establish new industries to support the E&P value chain, and ensure sustainable operations for future generations.

Local content implementation, according to him, is anchored on six broad pillars: regulatory framework, gap analysis, capacity building, incentives and funding, research and development (R&D), and market access. These pillars are driven by several policy interventions.

“The policy interventions include the Equipment Component Manufacturing Initiative, which requires companies to obtain a Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate to qualify for equipment supply; the marine vessel categorization scheme, which mandates proof of indigenous ownership for vessel contracts; and project-based training, which requires project promoters to commit a percentage of project costs to industry-relevant training,” he said.

Highlighting accomplishments under the NOGICD Act, Ogbe stated: “Nigeria now hosts a world-class fabrication and integration yard for the production of platforms and the integration of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, high-voltage cables, and fiber optics for LNG trains.” He added that production platforms are now fabricated using Nigerian-made cables, while design engineering capacity now exists for onshore, offshore, LNG, and gas-gathering facilities.

He also disclosed that operators such as Renaissance Africa Energy Limited, Seplat, and Oando have acquired assets from international oil companies (IOCs) under a divestment programme and are poised to become key contributors to Nigeria’s target of achieving three million barrels per day in production by 2030.

Ogbe further noted that recent Executive Orders by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which introduced tax incentives tied to time-bound upstream investment and cost leadership, as well as measures to accelerate contract processing cycles from 36 months to six months, have already given rise to major projects such as the UBETA Gas Development Project and the Bonga North Project, with others in the pipeline.

He concluded with a strong assurance to other oil- and gas-producing countries on the continent that the NCDMB remains committed to partnering with them to build an African energy sector that is “owned, operated, and sustained by Africans.”

The African Energy Week, organized by the African Energy Chamber, is an interactive exhibition and networking event attended by energy policymakers, operators, service companies in the oil and gas sector, and prospective investors.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE