NCDMB Extols Tinubu On Oil Sector Executive Orders

Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), on Monday lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for announcing three Presidential Executive Orders directed at incentivizing the Nigerian oil and gas industry, encouraging new investments in the sector, reducing contracting costs and timelines, and promoting cost efficiency in local content requirements.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

The Executive Orders are the Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, ETC) Order 2024; Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements, 2024 (EO 41); and Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 (EO 42).

Speaking in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Executive Secretary stated that the policy directives had reinforced the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and codified the Service Level Agreements (SLA), which the NCDMB first introduced in May 2017 to fast-track approvals for the Nigeria LNG Limited Train 7 project, before expanding it to the entire industry after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and five international oil-producing companies in September 2023.

Engr. Ogbe clarified that the Presidential Executive Orders did not whittle down the powers of the NCDMB or abrogate the schedule of the NOGICD Act.

Instead, according to him, the Executive Order 41 mandates the Board to ensure the patronage of local companies with domiciled proven capacities and capabilities to achieve cost competitiveness and project delivery within schedule.

He equally pointed out that Executive Order 42 reemphasised NCDMB’s obligation to fast-track approval processes as required by the SLA and section 23 of the NOGICD Act, which mandates the Board to review projects’ documentation within 10 days and advise the concerned operating company.