Nigeria will stop granting waivers to foreign oil firms to import key equipment for oil and gas project from April next year, as it seeks to keep 68 percent of its annual $20 billion oil spend in the country, THISDAY learnt Thursday.
However, multinational oil firms operating in the country like Shell, ExxonMobil and Total are of the opinion that the policy may lead to suspension of many ongoing projects in 2013, unless the Federal Government reviews it.
“From April 2013, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will no longer grant waivers to any company to import equipment that can be fabricated locally in Nigeria,” Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, said in Abuja.
“That is the law, which mandates all overseas equipment manufacturers to domicile their plants in Nigeria,” Nwapa told THISDAY, adding: “This is to ensure that we get the jobs back to Nigeria.”
He said companies would then be required to obtain a Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate (NCEC) from the board to be eligible to participate in tenders for oil and gas projects in Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2010, signed into law the local content bill aimed at boosting the involvement of Nigerian indigenous firms in its strategic industry and creating jobs in Nigeria.
Industry experts estimate that Nigerian content in the oil industry is just about 30 percent, indicating that most of the engineering, fabrication and maintenance jobs are provided by foreign workers and overseas suppliers.
Nwapa noted that contribution to the Nigerian Content Development Fund; a revolving loan to assist indigenous companies has increased to $70 billion from $500 million in 2010.
But oil companies have said while they backed Nigeria’s bid to increase local participation in oil and gas projects, the policy was still faced with challenges including inadequate infrastructure, financing and the lack of requisite skilled manpower.
“We are saying the government will need to review its deadline on the waiver window as this has implications on our projects if they go ahead,” General Manager, Nigerian Content Development of Shell Nigeria, Mr. Igo Weli, disclosed to THISDAY.
Weli explained, “While we continue to patronise local fabricating yards but they are inadequate and if you say I must not import my materials, then it means work will stop on the projects.”
Meanwhile, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) has said there was no need for Nigerians to resort to panic buying of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
PPMC in a statement allayed fears of petrol scarcity assuring that the country has enough of the product in strategic reserve to last for more than a month.
The Group General Manager Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, quoted the Managing Director of PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh, saying all issues relating to initial hitch in supply of petrol have been resolved.
Momoh was quoted to have said: “There were a number of issues like the Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD) strike in Kwara, Rivers and Edo States which have been resolved.
There was also the issue of marketers’ reluctance to import products as a result of the uncertainty about subsidy payment which has also been resolved with the recent appropriation for subsidy included in the 2012 budget by the President. So marketers have resumed importation, and we have enough fuel in our strategic reserve to last until their cargoes start arriving.”
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