FDI needed to grow Local Content -NCDMB

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and some foreigners are needed for Local Content to thrive in the Nigerian oil and gas industry and allied sectors, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote has said.

The Executive Secretary spoke in Abuja on Thursday at a workshop organised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on the Nigerian Content benchmark for schedules of products and services and local products exhibition for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

Wabote was represented by the Director Planning, Research & Statistics in the NCDMB, Mr. Daziba Patrick Obah and he explained that Nigeria is still lacking in some capabilities, hence the need for FDI to support Local Content growth.

He emphasized that Local Content philosophy and its application in Nigeria has no correlation with Nigerianisation or Nationalization of foreign firms.  “It is neither a Protectionism force nor anti-foreigners in its inclination, and must not be applied interchangeably with Corporate Social Responsibility,” he added.

Obah stressed that “Nigerian Content is a very serious stakeholder business initiative, designed to promote domestication and domiciliation of value adding activities in-country through manufacturing, procurement, research & development and employment & training.”

Shedding light on Board’s monitoring and enforcement of the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, he disclosed that “our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework adopts a two pronged approach namely, Compliance & Performance Monitoring and Intervention Monitoring.”

He explained that in cases where cases of non-compliance or other infractions are established against some companies, the Board adopts measures which include litigation, naming and shaming, blacklisting from future tenders, remediation measures and others.

SOURCE: oglinks.news