NCDMB: Pushing Nigerian Content Beyond The Imaginable

By John Odhe 

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act was established and signed into law on April 22, 2010, by the then President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with the goal of boosting Nigerian participation in the oil and gas sector. It is this Act that birthed the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with the objective of implementing its provisions. 

Unlike many other boards in Nigeria that barely exist by their names, the NCDMB, upon its establishment, began a vigorous implementation of its core mandate -ensuring that Nigerians control and enjoy their God given black gold and other natural resources in fullness.

According to available verifiable statistics, it will shock you to note that before the Nigerian Content Act (NOGICD Act) was established in 2010, the level of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry was very low, fluctuating around a paltry 3% to 5%, meaning most revenue and activities flowed out of the country, with less than 5% of spending retained locally.

The few privileged indigenous engineers and artisans that worked in the oil sector then were working with a burden of inferiority complex and a discomforting poor remuneration. But the good news today is that that old, ugly order has become history, courtesy of the emergence of the NCDMB.

Meanwhile, not many Nigerians are aware of the silent revolution going on in the oil and gas industry under a painstaking monitoring of Nigerian content by the board.

This informed NCDMB's decision to take members of the Nigerian press, comprising electronic, print and new media experts on a two-day on-the-spot tour of oil and gas facilities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The tour was a shift from the usual annual theoretical media workshop being organized for media practitioners on the activities of the NCDMB.

Speaking during the exercise at the Marconi NG EPC Ltd facility in Rumuolumeni, NCDMB's General Manager, Corporate Communications, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, said the initiative represented a significant shift from traditional classroom-based training to hands-on, boot-on-the-ground media engagement to keep the world abreast in practical terms on how NCDMB is affecting Nigeria's economy, creating jobs, helping companies and promoting in-country growth.

“For the past eight years, we have held media capacity-building workshops annually in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja. But this year, we decided to take a step further—to bring the field to the media and the media to the field so journalists can merge theoretical knowledge with real-world experience,” he said.

Ezoebi pointed out that the Nigerian Content Act, especially Sections 67 and 70, places strong emphasis on communication and effective media engagement. This mandate, he noted, makes collaborations with leading industry players such as Marconi NG EPC both strategic and necessary.

He added that the tour also fulfilled a long-standing promise by the Board to broaden journalists’ capacity beyond lectures, enabling the media to understand not only policies but the practical realities that shape Nigeria’s oil and gas ecosystem.

He commended Marconi, PE Energy Limited and Burnorr Energy Integrated Services for opening their operations to the media, describing the companies as a shining example of local content advancement.

“Marconi is a good example of local content success. Promoting Nigerian companies is not about marginalization—it is about celebrating homegrown capacity,” he noted.

The general manager recalled that Saipem, the former operator of the facility, once struggled with effective operations in Nigeria’s swamp terrains. Today, under Nigerian ownership, the transformed Marconi NG EPC dominates onshore and swamp projects. “This is what happens when local content is nurtured—the value chain becomes stronger, and the results shine brighter,” he said.

Dr. Ezeobi expressed confidence that such exposure will enrich the quality of reportage, bridge knowledge gaps, and enhance public understanding of the industry.

“This experience helps the media see the value chain firsthand. It strengthens collaboration, enhances accuracy, and supports our broader mission of deepening Nigerian content,” he said.

With the success of this maiden edition, the NCDMB says it hopes to expand the initiative, making practical engagement a core part of its annual media development programme.

During the tour, one thing stood out. The three facilities visited could not hold back their ecstasies. They all unreservedly poured eulogies on the NCDMB. They described it as a board established to give Nigerian experts, particularly in the oil and gas industry their pride of place. 

They made open affirmation that but for the creation of the NCDMB, Nigerians, no matter how intelligent, professional and proficient they may be, would have remained in perpetual servitude under foreign expatriates in the oil and gas sector.

According to Engr. Chukwuemeka Igila, the Vice President of PE Energy Limited, an oil and gas servicing company located at Trans Amadi in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the PE energy limited is one of the greatest beneficiary of the creation of NCDMB.

Conducting an array of journalists round the facility, Chukwuemeka pointed out that his company had reasons to express appreciation to the Nigerian content development and monitoring board for unclasping Nigerian professionals from the clapper claws of foreigners who, before now, dominated the mainstream, upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.

Igila said: we are a hundred percent Nigerian company. We are a product of Nigerian content as well. What you have seen here today is investment we have been able to put on ground to be able to showcase our local content capability in respect of what we are capable of doing in the oil and gas industry.

"Basically, we are focused on flow drive. When we say flow drive, we mean rotating equipment from pumps, compressors, turbines and other rotating process equipment. We are a purely hundred percent valve company. We have the capacity to build, to manufacture and assemble valves in-country.

"We are also a measurement company. For you to sell the gas or the crude, you need to measure it appropriately so that you know what you are giving out which we call per-barrel billing from custody transfer measurement to allocation measurement and dispute resolution when it comes to co-mingled fields."

Mentioning funding as a major challenge to indigenous companies in Nigeria, the PE energy limited Vice President, also commended the efforts being made by the NCDMB in ensuring Nigerian firms keep afloat.

"We are in a country where an average business cannot easily assess loans from the bank. Again, we are also grateful to NCDMB because they are bringing up various schemes to also help Nigerian companies with respect to funding of projects," he added.

Aniekan Udom is the Nigerian content coordinator for PE energy limited. When inquisitive journalists sought to know how the Nigerian content development and monitoring board has supported his company, Udom was emphatic in his response, noting that he had no molecule of doubt in his mind that the advent of the NCDMB has become a shining light as it regards ease of doing business amongst Nigerian indigenous firms. 

His words: "the existence of NCDMB alone is enough support. Today, as you are in this facility, you did not see a foreigner operating any of our machines. By that I mean NCDMB has a policy. There is a NOGICD Act that mandates technology transfer and capacity building. That alone has ensured that PE Energy business has also been sustained."

He recalled that during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that restricted international movement, precluding foreigners from coming to Nigeria, PE Energy stood out and operated without foreign aid because NCDMB through the NOGICD act ensured that indigenous persons were trained.

"Today, we don't panic over absence of foreigners because NCDMB has enabled our Engineers to be trained. There are other policies and programmes that NCDMB has put in place that have also supported our business," he added.

Indeed, the NCDMB is relentless in its push to hit seventy percent Nigerian content in 2027. From 3% in 2010, the board, through genuine efforts, achieved fifty-six percentage in 2024. With continuous support and adequate funding from the federal government, NCDMB can achieve its goal of seventy percent Nigerian content in 2027.