Chinecherem Ojiako
The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) recently held its annual dinner which provided a platform for its public lecture and awards series, as well as the induction of new members.
Themed “The Impact of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010 on In-Country Contractors’ Capabilities”, took place at the Eko Hotels and Suites Victoria Island, Lagos on November 23, 2019.
The event kicked off with the arrival of guests such as the guest speaker- the General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mrs Anike Ogunlami; Representatives of NSE president,TOTAL Upstream Nigeria Limited, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Amazon Energy Services, Fellows of the NSE and other guests.
The Chairman NSE, Victoria Island branch, Engr. John Audu, in his opening remarks, expressed gratitude to the immediate past chairman and her EXCO for setting the branch on the path of sustainable progress upon which the new EXCO sprang into action.
He further highlighted the branch’s vision and mission which is to “be the engineering hub for homegrown technology and industrialisation ” and “to proffer engineering solutions to key societal problems while ensuring the welfare of engineers and to diligently follow up with government through advocacy campaigns”.
In line with this, he explained four strategic initiatives developed for the implementation of the mission; Serve Our Society (SOS), to profer solution to the people by implementing a help desk that people can call and share the issues in their environment; Engender Pervasive Innovation (EPI) where he said that it was high time engineers became pervasively innovative; Enhanced Welfare(EW) to look into the wellbeing of the engineers, and the Human Capacity Development (HCD)to improve the capacity of engineers with training programs and workshop.
While congratulating the new members that were inducted into the NSE, he said prior to the enactment of the NOGICD Act 2010, the Nigerian oil industry was originally the exclusive preserve of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other expatriate companies in areas ranging from exploration and production, trading as well as service operations.
Reports in 2008 highlighted the fact that although the oil and gas industry accounted for 90 per cent of Nigeria’s revenue, it contributed less than 38 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
In other words, the absence of local capacity in the industry had resulted in the repatriation of the majority of the $10 billion yearly average industry spend into foreign bank accounts abroad.
An expatriate workforce largely dominated the local strategic positions in the industry and most of the industry’s lucrative contracts were carried out in foreign fabrication yards, ultimately leading to adverse effects on labour creation and the growth of the domestic economy as a whole.
Thus the NOGICD Act was therefore signed into law on April 22, 2010 and aims to increase indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry by prescribing minimum thresholds for the use of local services and materials and to promote the transfer of technology and skill to Nigerian labour in the industry.
However before the act was enacted in 2010, some companies have began to put into consideration local content in their business.
The guest speaker, Anike Odunlami, a member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, UK (CIPS) and the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) with 20years of experience in the Upstream,Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas industry, in her lecture discussed and shared some of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) achievements and contribution before and after the NOGICD act was enacted.
At Chevron, she said it was very important that they promote the economic and social development of Nigeria, thus they also have a philosophy that local content or Nigerian content is an integral part of the way they do business.
