Seeing the successes that local engineering companies seem to be making up close has gladdened hearts at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) which is why the Board’s Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe has assured continued support to sustain the momentum.  

During a facility tour of the 10,000-square-metre fabrication yard of Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited, Warri, Delta State on Friday 26 July 2024, Engr. Ogbe recalled other similar visits he had made to reputable services doing well like the organisation.

Seeing is believing; I’ve come [and] have seen, says the Executive Secretary following his amazement about what was on the ground. This encouraged him to add a further comment stating: I Am so impressed with your facilities.

Engr. Ogbe congratulated Lee Engineering on its 34 years of active engagement in engineering, construction, operations, and maintenance (EPCOM) services with major oil and gas industry players, such as Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), Chevron Nigeria Limited, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies Limited, among others, as clients.

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So far, according to the Executive Secretary, the engineering company has maintained zero [incidents], zero downtime despite over three decades of operating in Nigeria where it has overseen the successful completion of at least 350 projects.

This remarkable feat encouraged a pledge from him that he will collaborate with your company and ensure that jobs you can do will come here. We are here as enablers to business [and] I will work with any company that can increase production in the country.

With energy sufficiency still a major problem for Nigeria, efforts from Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited through solar technology have been lessening the burden to produce more. The technology, says Engr. Ogbe is needed to provide electricity to ICT [Information and Communication Technology] Centres established by the NCDMB in several secondary schools in the Niger Delta and other geopolitical zones.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Engineering and Construction Company, Chief (Dr.) Leemon Ikpea, thanking the Executive Secretary and his entourage for the facility visit said the company, whose corporate headquarters is in Ikoyi, Lagos, was incorporated in 1991 and currently has several subsidiaries operating in Warri, Port Harcourt, as well as in Europe and the United States.

Recalling the state of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria in the early 1990s, the chairman admitted that the dominance of foreign companies and their production inputs, matched with the attendant massive capital flight, was exceedingly disturbing and ruinous to the Nigerian economy. Due to this, indigenous engineers in the sector like him became agitated and initiated the push for local content.

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄

𝗡𝗖𝗗𝗠𝗕 𝗕𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian… pic.twitter.com/kfJpDbDf4s

— NCDMB (@OfficialNCDMB) July 27, 2024

According to Chief Ikpea, the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD] Act, 2010, marked a turning point for the industry and the nation as home-grown oil and gas companies could now be competitive.

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In his argument further, he said that foreign companies cannot transfer technology to us because only indigenous companies can do that. He thinks that they have demonstrated this potential through intensive capacity-building programmes, the acquisition and deployment of hi-tech operational equipment in addition to actual execution of projects.

Meiza Nigeria