Africa’s expanding oil and gas activity could create a much larger market for its own businesses if countries can make it easier for local companies to work across borders, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board has said.

The Board made the case for deeper regional cooperation during a strategic engagement on African local content opportunities at the 2026 Namibian Oil and Gas Conference in Windhoek, Namibia, arguing that African countries already possess capabilities that could be combined to retain more value from the continent’s energy projects.

Representing NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Dr Abdulmalik Halilu said the continent should move towards a system in which companies can use capabilities and expertise from different African countries to compete for and execute major oil and gas projects.

The argument comes as African countries seek to attract investment into their energy industries while increasing the share of project spending that remains within their economies. Rather than developing identical capabilities independently in every oil-producing country, NCDMB is advocating partnerships that allow businesses to complement one another and access larger markets.

Halilu said African countries already have capabilities in areas including fabrication, engineering, manufacturing, subsea services, marine operations and project execution. The challenge, he said, is creating the policy and commercial environment that allows those capabilities to be deployed across national borders.

For businesses, that could mean a Nigerian engineering company partnering with a Namibian firm on a project, an African fabrication company supplying equipment to another country’s oil industry, or companies from several countries joining forces to bid for contracts that would otherwise be beyond the capacity of a single local supplier.

NCDMB identified several models through which this could happen, including prime and subcontractor arrangements, incorporated local content joint ventures, contractual consortium bids and reciprocal market access agreements.

Also Read: Nigeria’s non-oil export boom is creating a new kind of business

Such arrangements could give African businesses access to projects outside their domestic markets while allowing project operators to draw from a broader pool of regional suppliers.

Nigeria’s experience with local content was presented as evidence of what deliberate policy, monitoring and supplier development can achieve. Halilu pointed to the transformation of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry since the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, particularly the development of indigenous capacity and stronger participation by local companies.

He attributed part of the progress to systems for data collection, compliance monitoring and supplier development, alongside investments designed to build local capacity.

The next challenge, however, is taking that model beyond individual countries.

Several African oil and gas producing nations have introduced their own local content laws and regulations. While such policies are intended to increase domestic participation, differences between national requirements can make cross-border business more difficult.

A company that has developed expertise and equipment for one African market may still face regulatory, customs, immigration and financing barriers when attempting to provide the same services elsewhere.

NCDMB therefore wants African countries to work towards greater alignment of local content policies, trade procedures and standards.

The Board also linked the proposal to the African Continental Free Trade Area, which provides a framework for increasing trade and economic integration among African countries. Greater use of the framework could help local energy businesses reach markets beyond their home countries, provided governments address practical barriers to doing business across borders.

Halilu said this would require cooperation on customs, trade facilitation, immigration and financing, alongside regulatory harmonisation.

Financing could be particularly important. Building the capacity to participate in large oil and gas projects often requires companies to invest in equipment, technology, skilled workers and certification before they can secure major contracts. Smaller African suppliers may struggle to make those investments without access to affordable and sustainable financing.

NCDMB also backed the creation of a Pan-African supplier database and an interactive opportunities platform that would allow companies and project developers to identify capabilities available across the continent.

Such a system could address one of the less visible barriers to local participation: companies cannot compete for opportunities they do not know about, while project developers may overlook capable suppliers because they are unfamiliar with businesses outside their immediate markets.

The proposal was reinforced during a panel session at the conference, where NCDMB Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Esueme Dan Kikile, discussed international approaches to strengthening local participation and increasing in-country value in oil and gas.

The Board also used its presence at the conference to showcase Nigeria’s local content experience, including the role of the NOGICD Act in developing indigenous participation in the sector.

The broader opportunity is significant. As new oil and gas projects emerge across Africa, the question is increasingly not only how much crude or gas a country can produce, but how much of the economic activity generated by those projects can be captured by African businesses.

If countries continue to operate largely separate local content systems, companies may remain confined to relatively small national markets. A more integrated approach could turn local content into a regional business ecosystem, allowing African companies to combine capital, technology, skills and expertise to compete for larger projects.

Meiza Nigeria