NCDMB champions African industry at Africa Oil Week
At Africa Oil Week, NCDMB pushes a regional approach to local content, arguing that African businesses must move beyond supplying their domestic markets to compete across the continent’s energy value chain.
Africa’s oil and gas industry may be rich in natural resources, but much of the equipment, expertise, financing and technology needed to develop those resources still comes from outside the continent. At Africa Oil Week 2026 in Accra, Ghana, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) used the platform to make a broader case: Africa’s next stage of energy growth will depend on how much value its own businesses can capture.
The argument goes beyond increasing the number of locally owned companies working in oil and gas. It is about building businesses that can develop technology, employ skilled workers, access finance, supply regional markets and compete for contracts beyond their home countries.
Speaking on “From Resource Ownership to Industrial Power”, NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, represented by the Board’s Director of Corporate Services, Dr Abdulmalik Halilu, said African countries needed to move beyond ownership of natural resources and focus on building sustainable industrial capacity.
He said local content frameworks should encourage the development and use of African capabilities across borders, rather than keeping businesses confined to individual national markets.
That approach could significantly change the economics of local content. A company that builds equipment, provides engineering services or develops energy technology for only one market faces a limited pool of contracts. A regional market, however, gives indigenous businesses a larger customer base and creates stronger incentives to invest in technology, skills and production capacity.
Halilu identified research and technology development, local employment, strategic partnerships, ownership of assets, stronger supply chains and increased use of locally made goods as important elements of a local content strategy. The ultimate objective, he said, should be greater value creation and a larger contribution to African economies.
Also Read: NCDMB pushes for unified African market for local oil and gas businesses
The discussions at Africa Oil Week also highlighted a familiar obstacle to that ambition: money.
NCDMB Assistant Manager, Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Erefagha Turner, pointed to the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund as an example of how targeted financing can help indigenous oil and gas companies build capacity.
The fund, he said, has supported service companies seeking to expand their capabilities, illustrating how access to finance can determine whether local businesses remain small contractors or grow into companies capable of taking on larger projects.
For African energy companies, the financing question is becoming more important as the industry moves towards more complex projects and competition for investment capital intensifies. Businesses need funding not only to win contracts but also to acquire equipment, train workers, develop technology and meet the standards required by international operators.
Skills are another part of the equation. Engr Dokubo Obongo, Manager, Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building at NCDMB, stressed the need for greater investment in talent during discussions on building Africa’s energy workforce.
The point is straightforward: local ownership means little if African companies have to continually import the technical expertise required to execute major projects.
Technology and regulation also featured prominently during the discussions. NCDMB Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Ajimijaye Omomehin, participated in discussions on harmonising technology and policy under the Brazzaville Accord, as well as a session on building regional oil and gas industrial hubs.
The sessions pointed to one of the biggest opportunities and challenges for Africa’s energy industry. The continent has the resources and a growing pool of businesses and professionals, but fragmented markets, inconsistent regulations, limited financing and gaps in technical capacity can prevent those advantages from translating into competitive regional industries.
NCDMB officials also contributed to discussions on investment opportunities in Africa’s upstream sector, where industry stakeholders argued that local content can help attract investment and reduce operating costs. They also stressed the importance of regulatory stability, a factor that investors weigh heavily when deciding where to commit capital.
For Nigeria, which has spent years developing policies to increase local participation in its oil and gas industry, the regional conversation offers another opportunity. Nigerian companies that have built capacity under the country’s local content framework could potentially take those capabilities into other African markets, while partnerships with businesses in other countries could create larger regional supply chains.
That is ultimately the bigger question behind the local content debate: whether Africa can use its oil and gas resources to build companies that remain valuable even beyond individual projects and national borders.
NCDMB’s participation in Africa Oil Week therefore comes at a time when the continent’s energy industry is being pushed to think beyond extracting resources. The next opportunity may lie in building the businesses, technology, skills and supply chains capable of keeping more of the value generated by those resources within Africa.
