The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board says its Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, established to boost local manufacturing through shared infrastructure and embedded power solutions, would be inaugurated in 2026.

Abdulmalik Halilu, spokesman for NCDMB, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while presenting an overview of the Board’s mandate and achievements at a capacity-building workshop for the media.

NCDMB established the NOGAPS with the primary aim of domiciling and domesticating oil and gas activities in-country by facilitating local manufacturing.

The scheme is a key part of the NCDMB’s 10-year Strategic Roadmap to increase Nigerian content in the industry to 70 per cent by 2027.

Mr Halilu said eight oil and gas industrial parks, covering Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Delta, Ondo, Abia, and Edo, were being established.

“NOGAPS in Bayelsa and Cross River states are at 90 per cent completion and due for commissioning in 2026,’’ he said

Mr Halilu said the parks would provide infrastructure and services plots for manufacturing outfits, adding that its local content policy had evolved into a powerful tool for industrialisation, job creation and sustainable economic growth in the sector.

He said local content was designed to stop capital flight and reposition the oil and gas industry as a catalyst for national development.

According to him, exporting oil and gas services outside Nigeria amounted to exporting jobs, capital and industrialisation opportunities, a situation the Federal Government deliberately moved to reverse through local content policies.

He said the success of early local content initiatives led to the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, which institutionalised the policy and insulated it from political changes.

“The philosophy of local content is simple: what can be competitively produced in Nigeria should be produced in Nigeria, without compromising standards, pricing or project timelines,” Mr Halilu said.

He explained that the NOGICD Act assigns NCDMB two core responsibilities, namely building indigenous capacity and enforcing compliance with the Act, which contains schedules and nearly 300 performance targets.

Highlighting achievements, he cited the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project as a major success story, with over 93 per cent Nigerian workforce participation, engagement of 1,400 vendors, and significant domiciliation of fabrication, engineering and manufacturing activities.

He said capacities developed for oil and gas projects now serve other sectors such as power and construction, reinforcing the sector’s multiplier effect on the economy.

On financing, he said NCDMB had deployed funds from the Nigerian Content Development Fund through intervention programmes, including single-digit interest loans for indigenous companies, asset-acquisition financing, and working capital support introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Halilu also said that NCDMB had fully automated its processes, eliminating physical visits for certifications and approvals, and placing the Board among Nigeria’s top-performing agencies in ease-of-doing-business rankings.

(NAN)