The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria five years ago was something the country would have loved to avoid because alongside it came a dip in demand for services. So, here is Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN), which specialises in constructing vessels, trying to reverse its losses. It will be hoping the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will show the door in.

Last Friday, 31 January 2025, the Board’s Executive Secretary received a delegation from the Korean company SHIN, whose Managing Director, Mr. Jin Lee, had come to solicit close support and intentional networking to get it back to functioning just like pre-pandemic times.

The meeting at the Board’s Lagos liaison office focused on the visitor’s in-country capacities, which include heavy fabrication and FPSO integration at the SHI-MCI yard, a free zone establishment located beach side at the Tarkwa Bay in Lagos.

What SHIN, a renowned global shipbuilder and part of a conglomerate of companies that includes Seoul-based Samsung Electronics was seeking during the trip by the managing director is the NCDMB’s influence to get new projects in.

Having gained an audience with Engr. Ogbe, the delegation went on to highlight their vast experience when it concerns executing major oil and gas projects. One of their achievements in Nigeria was building the TotalEnergies Egina FPSO, which is considered the world’s biggest and was commissioned in 2018.

While meeting with the hosts, the Koreans pledged to be committed to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s mantra demanding the fast-tracking of crude oil production and creating employment opportunities for the citizens, particularly under a keen President Bola Tinubu’s administration looking to make a mark.

Based on its past showcases although they aren’t so recent, SHIN officials meeting with the Board believe themselves strongly to possess just the right sort of mettle and character that ought to be getting an introduction with the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) as well any other international clientele the NCDMB can help broker a meeting with.

With an introduction, the Koreans think they can elevate their marketability, which could occur by attracting more businesses, which would go on to position Nigeria as a hub for vessel-building exports based on managing director Lee’s envisioning of the future.

At the moment, that possibility is under pause, so a trip to local content champion NCDMB is all part of figuring a way out.

Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria‘s vision into the future sees diversifying into the renewable energy space, and contributing a quota into a pool of solutions that helps deal with the country host’s energy challenges.

One of the ways to actualise this goal is to manufacture floating foundations and associated assets for wind farms, and other green projects.

Responding to the entreaties was the Executive Secretary who welcomed the new Managing Director to Nigeria, and assured him of the Board’s support, in line with its mandate to encourage competent oil and gas industry operations and patronage in the country.

He charged SHIN to work with indigenous service companies, build their capacities and maximise job creation in the economy while also agreeing to make the needed introduction to APPO and other international groups.

All will be in furtherance of the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap’s Sectorial and Regional Linkage enabler, which wants Nigerian companies that have built outstanding capacities to connect with the outside world.

Soon enough, says Engr. Felix Ogbe, there would be the return leg of the visit with the Board paying a courtesy call to SHIN’s facilities at Tarkwa Bay.

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In company with representatives from both international and indigenous operating oil and gas companies, it would be a sign of the NCDMB’s interest in strengthening brands that show capacity just like it has always been seen to do.

Meiza Nigeria