… As CBN urges Nigerians to access economic interventions, towards promoting Financial stability***
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says it has grown Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector to 42 per cent.
Mr Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary of NCDMB gave the update on Wednesday while speaking at a Local content workshop for the Judiciary in Bayelsa.
The newsmen report that the theme of the workshop was: “Philosophy and the imperatives of the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry content development (NOGICD) Act”.
The growth, according to Wabote, translates to the retention of over $8 billion of the $20 billion annual spending in the industry, within the Nigerian economy and is part of the NCDMB’s 10-year plan (2017-2027) to achieve 70 per cent by 2027.
The Executive Secretary noted that with less than 5 per cent local content before the enactment of the NOGICD Act 2010, Nigerians were reversing the dominance of foreign companies.
He said that currently Nigerian-owned oil companies produced 15 per cent of the country’s daily oil output and account for some 60 per cent of domestic gas supply.
On ownership of oil and gas industry equipment, Wabote said that available records indicated that 40 per cent of vessels deployed in the sector were owned by Nigerians.
The workshop drew participants from the Bayelsa Judiciary, Federal High Court Yenagoa, Nigeria Industrial Court Yenagoa and Port Harcourt Divisions.
Mr Naboth Onyeso, Head of Legal Services at NCDMB noted that although oil and gas were on the exclusive legislative list, some conflicts arising from the implementation of the NOGICD Act may be brought before the state judiciary.
He said that the NCDMB saw all levels of the judiciary at state and federal levels as critical stakeholders who needed to understand the NOGICD Act.
He said that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) reinforced the NOGICD Act as it complemented the legislation.
Mrs Kate Abiri, Chief Judge of Bayelsa, who served as a resource person in one of the technical sessions on the; “Role of the Judiciary in attaining the goals of the NOGICD Act” examined all the sections of the Act.
She said a detailed grasp of the contents and intents of the legislation was crucial for the judiciary to give unbiased interpretation of the law.
Senior officials of the NCDMB also presented papers at the technical session on the various aspects of the board’s operations before the audience.
The panel session of the workshop was on the topic: “Challenges of enforcing breaches of the NOGICD Act, The Role of the Bar and the Bench”.
Dr Pereowei Subai, Head of Department, Property/Private Law, Niger Delta University, served as moderator of the panel session comprising Onyeso of the NCDMB and Prof Solomon Ebobra, Law Faculty of the Niger Delta University.
Other members of the panel were Justice Mohammed Madugu, Judge of Federal High Court, Abuja, and legal practitioners, Inemesit Dike, and Kelvin Ejelonu.
In the meantime, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged Nigerians to embrace its intervention programmes to promote financial stability and economic development.
The CBN Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Osita Nwanisiobi, said this at the opening session of a two-day fair organised on Wednesday in Owerri by the apex bank.
Nwanisiobi, represented by the Deputy Director of, the Corporate Communications Department, Mr Sam Okogbue, said that the interventions were aimed at business emancipation and poverty reduction.
Speaking on the theme: “Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development”, Nwanisiobi said that the CBN had rolled out interventions in the agricultural, manufacturing and other sectors.
He said that the CBN’s Anchor Borrower’s programme was the nation’s saving grace for the increased availability of rice during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, rice was the most single popular component of our palliatives.
This is a result of the CBN’s Anchor Borrower’s programme for rice farmers,” he said.
He said that Nigeria’s over-dependence on importation was a factor responsible for the fall in the exchange rate of the Naira.
He described the manufacturing sector as a live wire for economic development.
“No successful economy thrives on the promotion of imported products over the exportation of locally manufactured products,” he said.
Speaking, Mrs Uchenna Onyene of the CBN’s Currency Operations Department, called on Nigerians to handle the Naira with care in line with the provisions of Section 21, Sub-section 4 of the CBN Act 2007.
She also urged Nigerians to embrace the CBN’s cashless policy to reduce risk and promote seamlessness of transactions, adding that the bank was committed to ensure innovation in payments for a better customer experience.
The newsmen report that the highlight of the event was the onboarding of stakeholders on the eNaira platform.
