The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), companies operating in the oil and gas industry should consider increasing their investments in manufacturing, research, and technology development in order to develop Nigeria’s industrial base and retain value locally.
At the OWI West Africa 2026 conference held in Lagos, Nigeria, the Director of Planning, Research & Statistics at NCDMB, Mr. Silas Ajimijaye, noted that Nigeria had made much progress in engineering and fabrication through its local content policy but is now ready to fill the missing links, including manufacturing and research & technology innovations.
The director says that Nigeria has recorded over 80 percent local content in engineering and fabrication but the next step for the country will be to improve in manufacturing and research & technology innovations.
“Nigeria is no longer content with simply participating in the oil and gas industry; we are building the capacity to lead it,” Ajimijaye said.
The Board’s approach, he said, was being steered by the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act and current government initiatives that seek to bring down costs, cut contracting times and improve adherence to Nigerian content requirements.
According to Ajimijaye, many of the manufacturing efforts carried out in the country were more centered on assembling finished products than producing the components needed. He urged industry stakeholders to fund indigenous research and development and get their projects approved by the Board right from the beginning to promote Nigerian content.
The NCDMB also pointed to its continued funding for capacity building via various training programs in collaboration with industry organizations like Renaissance Africa Energy and Seplat Energy.
Furthermore, the Board explained that it had enhanced access to funding via its intervention programmes run in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, which include financial assistance for women in the oil and gas industry.
The institution stated that its vision in the future was to have Nigerian firms become exporters of technology and know-how throughout Africa, while ensuring a local content retention level of 70 percent by 2027.
