Hand-wringing is common in service delivery in Nigeria. The local content czar bucks the trend.

We have grown accustomed to officials of government wringing their hands over seemingly intractable challenges that they were either appointed to solve, or indeed, begged Nigerians to elect them to sort out.  From inability to stop petroleum products from being smuggled to neighbouring countries, thereby driving up the subsidy on PMS, to importing virtually all the petroleum products consumed in the country, in spite of refineries receiving hundreds of billions of naira budgetary allocations annually and producing zilch of any petroleum product. So, when the head of a government agency does not shirk his responsibility, takes charge, details a clear roadmap for growth, it is indeed, bucking the trend.

That was exactly what happened with the appointment of Engr. Simbi Wabote in 2016. Largely unknown in the larger economy because he had always been in the private sector, his tenures have ushered in huge transformation of the oil and gas industry. He has moved local content in the industry from 27 percent in 2016 to 47 percent in 2022. These are not just numbers.

In the last six years, there has been a significant growth in the number of skilled Nigerians manning major operations, growth in asset ownership, strategic investments in key projects to spur further growth and development, and Nigerians participating in major projects hitherto reserved for foreign owned companies. This has translated in significant funds being retained in the country annually, estimated at US$12billion of $20billion. Hitherto, this fund was wholly expended on equipment and services procured from overseas.

One of the standout policy initiatives, perhaps the most important, was Engr. Wabote’s enunciation of a 10-Year Strategic Roadmap that will grow local content to 70 percent by 2027 a few years after his tenure must have ended. The plan is ambitious, a battle cry of sorts, with the strategic objective to bring together resources to optimise Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources to drive economic growth and industrialisation. Although there are several other innovative policies that have been delivered over the course of the six-year stewardship, the roadmap envisioned is delivering significant benefits. I will proceed to highlight some of the most succulent fruits that the policy has produced.

First off is the human capacity development programmes. This is the dearest to me as I consider skills acquisition to be far more important in growing a country than infrastructure. You can have the best infrastructure but when the skills are not available to manage such facilities, sooner rather than later, the facilities go to waste. Or worse, expatriates are hired to manage the facilities. There are several legs of this programme, but the standout is requiring companies to train Nigerians in highly sought after critical skills needed in the oil and gas industry when they breach human capital regulations. Rather than slam the companies with huge fines, the companies are mandated to train Nigerians and as we have read, some of the beneficiaries of this innovative way of sanctioning have gone on to be employed by these companies. Nigerians are in critical positions in the oil and gas sector much more than ever before, so much so that one wonders where the expatriates have all gone.

Another of such programme is gas penetration across the country. We have always heard the singsong of Nigeria being a gas, rather than an oil, country. Almost nothing was done about Nigerians utilising this huge resource, with many people still dependent on wood and kerosene for cooking, leading to devastating effect on health and the environment. The game is changing, with gas facilities being set up across the country, all the way to the far north, from processing plants to gas stations and gas cylinder manufacturing plants, the ecosystem to deliver  gas, make it easily accessible to a greater majority of Nigerians, is expanding at a rapid pace. Without this ecosystem, there is no way Nigerians can benefit from, or start using gas as the main source of energy.

Closely related to gas development is the establishment of modular refineries close to oil production facilities. NCDMB has been the catalyst in many of the modular refineries, providing comfort to investors and giving them the confidence to deliver on this mandate. Modular refineries may not strike a chord with some people who would prefer to see gigantic refineries as we are used to. Imagine we have lots of modular refineries processing crude oil and serving markets in their locale, petroleum products will be more readily available and overall cost to the consumer may be friendly as cost factors such as bridging and associated management cost of huge refineries, are eliminated.

There is a chance of this piece coming across as too patronising. But, the aforementioned projects are just a scratch on the surface of the great strides that have been taken in the last six years, that talking about them and praising the force driving the development, is the right thing to do. There are hundreds of federal agencies that we do not hear of, or their impact felt. Imagine we have only 50 of the over 700 federal agencies focusing on development, rather than only on opportunities to sanction corporate entities and thereafter engage in media trials…

Another major highlight of the roadmap fruition is the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme, more commonly called NOGaPS, which are industrial hubs for the manufacture of parts and equipment needed for oil and gas operations. There are about five to seven of these industrial hubs in various stages of development. These hubs are expected to accelerate Nigeria’s quest for industrialisation, especially as the hubs will not only produce parts and equipment for oil and gas operations, but also other sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, among others. The era of importing all manner of machinery and parts, and production halting because of the length of time it takes to import much-need parts, could be coming to an end.

There is a chance of this piece coming across as too patronising. But, the aforementioned projects are just a scratch on the surface of the great strides that have been taken in the last six years, that talking about them and praising the force driving the development, is the right thing to do. There are hundreds of federal agencies that we do not hear of, or their impact felt. Imagine we have only 50 of the over 700 federal agencies focusing on development, rather than only on opportunities to sanction corporate entities and thereafter engage in media trials, or in many some cases, compete with the entities they ought to be regulating. Socio-economic growth will be more rapid and a lot more wholesome, encompassing.

Engr. Wabote has been focusing on the developmental aspect of his office, which has turned out to be quite good for the country. Indeed, his plans for an energy future, in which Nigeria is energy independent, developing based on its comparative advantage(s), is one that recommends itself to the government that will be in place in 2023. Sometimes, you wish that good things never come to an end. We can only hope his successor(s) will be as visionary, have an uber-focus on development, the energy to deliver and patriotic to put Nigeria first in all endeavours. I mean, the proposed shipyard in Brass Island, Bayelsa State, which would maintain and repair cargo vessels, oil tankers, and LNG carriers, can only be the product of a highly visionary and driven executive.

Adewole Ojo is Editor-in-Chief, Meiza Nigeria

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.