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NCDMB seeks to retain $14 million on annual oil and gas spending

By Tayo Oredola
24 July 2018   |   3:14 am
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has disclosed that it plans to retain 70 per cent or $14 million of the $20 million annual spending of the oil and gas industry. Its Director of Finance and Personnel Management, Isaac Iyala, stated this in Lagos during a Capacity Building Workshop for journalists with the…

Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote of NCDMB

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has disclosed that it plans to retain 70 per cent or $14 million of the $20 million annual spending of the oil and gas industry.

Its Director of Finance and Personnel Management, Isaac Iyala, stated this in Lagos during a Capacity Building Workshop for journalists with the theme: NCDMB and the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund.

He explained that the board was focused on increasing the retention of industry spending from the current $5 million, which translates to 25 per cent of the total sum to $14 million in its 10 year strategic plan, which commenced in 2017.

He said with the coming of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICD), which gave birth to the board, less than $1 million of the amount was retained in country with $19 million.

But since the board came into being, there have been an increased spending in the industry.

Iyala noted that working with KPMG on the 10-year strategic plan, which terminates in 2027, they suggested that the retention should be increased to $10 million, which translates to 50 per cent of the total annual average spending.

But Executive Director of the board, Simbi Wabote, decided to raise its target to 70 per cent, which was being worked on.

He explained that when this is achieved, it would not only create 300,000 direct jobs in the country, but it would also mean that only $6 billion would leave the country by way of capital flight from the industry.

Commenting on the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF) fund made available by the board to meet the needs of indigenous manufacturers, service providers and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, General Manager, Nigerian Content Development Fund, Obinna Ofili, said between January and April 2018, the total flow of fund stood at $45 million, compared to $72 million recorded in 2017.

He explained that this year’s increase gave stakeholders the privilege of knowing that there was increase in oil prices and an ongoing third party audit to the extent that compliance level became high.

He added that the NCI fund was managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) attracts eight per cent interest and a five-year maximum tenure and was being sourced by collecting one per cent of all contracts awarded to upstream companies, even as only contributors to the funds were legible to apply.

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