Participants at the annual workshops of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Content Committee Workshop in partnership with Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) held in Ilorin, Kwara State capital themed: "Nigerian Content Development: The Past, Present And Future" agreed that all hands must be on deck for the Nigerian content to be actualized.

THE Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) henceforth will ensure that the government do not pay lip service to the issue of Nigerian content which has worked so well in the oil sector and has generated about 30,000 jobs since the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan in April 2010 to take care of other sectors of the economy.

Presenting a keynote address at the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Content Committee Workshop in partnership with Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) held in Ilorin, the Chairman of Local Content Committee, House of Representatives, Asita Honourable urged members of the NSE to ensure that the National Assembly pass a similar act like the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act to take care of other sectors of the economy.

He added that just two years after the act was enacted, Nigerians are already benefiting from the dividends of the act. "Nigerians say the act is the best piece of legislation to have been passed by the National Assembly. It has generated 30,000 jobs in the last 30 months.

"Looking at the population of Nigeria, we need to do more. The act creates limitless opportunity in the oil and gas sector," he said.

The Chairman of NSE Nigerian Content Committee, The Chairman of NSE Nigerian Content Committee, Engr. Chris Okoye(FNSE) and the Chairman, FEGNO Construct Nigeria Ltd in his opening address, disclosed that the workshop is in collaboration with the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to access the level of development of indigenous capabilities in the oil and gas sector.

Okoye said that the Nigerian content is the totality of the composite value added or created in the Nigerian economy through the utilisation of Nigerian human and material resources for the provision of goods and material resources to the petroleum industry within acceptable quality, health, safety and environmental standards in order to stimulate the development of indigenous capabilities.

According to him the Nigerian Content focuses on the under listed subsectors of the oil and gas industry: Materials and Manufacturing subsector, shipping and logistics, petroleum engineering sub-sector, fabrication sub-sector and banking and insurance. "The objectives of the Nigerian content policy initiatives are as follows: to promote a framework that guarantees active local participation without compromising standards. To promote value adding in Nigeria through utilization of local raw materials and human resources and to promote steady, measurable and sustainable growth of Nigerian content," he said.

He said that the Nigerian Content Act (NCA) accords certain privileges and preferential treatment to companies that qualify as Nigerian Companies pursuant to the Act, including preferential treatment in the award of contracts for projects in the industry. To qualify as a Nigerian company under the NCA, a minimum of 51 percent of the issued shares must be held by Nigerian shareholders, whilst the remaining forty-nine per cent of its issued shares can be held by foreigners.

"Although the provision for local participation in the oil and gas industry and in-country sourcing of goods and services has always had a place in the Nigerian oil and gas industry; the renewed effort by government to deliberately extract maximum value from natural resources started in 2005 when the NNPC spearheaded The Nigerian Content Policy and created the Nigerian Content Division (NCD). The main objective of the NCD was to link the oil industry to other sectors of the economy thereby developing indigenous capabilities of its citizens, entrepreneurs and institutions.

"This was intended to be achieved through the localization of the industry's activities and deliberate utilization of Nigerian human and material resources for the petroleum industry. At this time, it was reported that the percentage of local participation in the industry rose from less than 10 per cent to about 30 per cent," he said.

In his paper on Human Capacity Shortages: A Case For Revitalization Of Technical Trade Schools and Polytechnics Okoye said that the Nigerian economy needs to increase its competitiveness or there will be insufficient investments to enable its growth at a rate to remain a viable economy.

"It is obvious that the driver of this initiative could only be propelled by the deployment of science, engineering , technology and innovation (SETI). The absence of capable, competent and qualified technicians and craftsmen as vital link in this chain makes the realization of this objective impossible.

He noted that before the pre-war era, Nigeria had established a well-organized system of vocational and technical education/training, which adequately served its needs.

"The post civil war era has witnessed a complete collapse in the quality of skilled technical work force available in Nigeria. The current situation has exposed the apparent disconnect between the respective key authorities/stakeholders that are relevant to the subject matter.

"The current state of the Nation calls for a profound re-structuring and reform of vocational training wherein the NSE must play a pivotal role in mobilizing all the stakeholders to a sustainable positive action on the issue.

According to him, in a recent report (Weekly Economic Report and Business Review 29th Week in 2012) confirmed that Nigeria was planning "to procure $1.2bn Cassava Processing Plants and Rice Processing Plants from China.

"This confirms Nigeria's weakness in the areas of machine design and machine building. If Nigeria was technology-ready in the said areas of Machine Design and Machine Building, the above procurement would have been sourced locally thereby providing the benefits of employment creation together with other socio-economic multiplier effects. The above report gives a clear indication of the gross inadequacies of our engineering education and training at all levels even after 52 years of independence!" he said.

Engr. EC Nwapa (FNSE), the Executive Secretary Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in his paper on Nigerian Content Act-The Road So Far-Successes, Challenges and Suggestions noted that the Nigerian Content Act was signed into law by President Jonathan in April 22, 2010 and established the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and inaugurated governing council for the board in August 2010.

"Since the board commenced operations in Yenagoa in June 2010.

It has retain $10 billion out of 20 billion average annual industry spend. Create over 30,000 direct employment and training opportunities. Establish three to four new pipe mills to service industry demands. Develop one or two dockyards and maximize utilization of existing shipyards. Transformation of ownership profile of marine assets supporting industry, integration of indigenes and businesses residing in the Oil producing areas. Capture over 50-70 percent of Banking services, insurance risk placements and Legal services," he said

He added that there is the need to invest in skills acquisition and international certification in order to exploit vacancies brought about by reduction of expatriate engineers.

" Invest in Research Development and innovation to close knowledge capacity gaps, establish communication channels with NCDMB to discuss issues hampering growth of Nigerian Engineers and devise strategies for progress and take steps to diversify Engineering expertise in various fields with the aim of increasing the marketability of Nigerian Engineers in global circles," he said.

The challenges according to him are three pronged- institutional, capacity gap and cross cutting issues: Institutional: inadequate appropriation to support administration of local content, exposure of the Board to frequent litigation and petitions, growing the Board's workforce to meet wide responsibility. Capacity Gap: How to ensure strict compliance without disrupting industry activities, ensuring quality of delivery, absence of manufacturing capability and confidence to use local goods. Cross cutting issues: Handling increased cost plus schedule, requirement for lowest bidder versus the need to use locally made goods that usually come with premium cost. Policy inconsistency such as import tariffs versus cost of locally made goods.

He recommended that there is the need to invest in skills acquisition and international certification in order to exploit vacancies brought about by reduction of expatriate engineers.

In his paper on Nigerian Content Development and Expatriates Quota Administration Engr. Felix Atume said that since the discovery of oil in Nigerian in 1957, by the Shell corporation, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry has grown in leaps and bounds to become one of the major players in the international Oil and Gas marketing in the world "Nigeria is currently the largest oil producer in Africa, the 11th largest in the world, with an average production of 2.5 million barrels per day. Nigeria is also the 5th largest exporter of crude oil to the United States of America. Oil is predominantly the Nigeria's major source of income," he said.

Norway according to him is one of the leading countries in terms of policy on local content. The Norwegian Government introduced legislation compelling those companies using natural resources also contribute to the economic development.

"Government had put in place policies to protect the Interest of Communities and the economy since the inception of oil exploration in the 1960's. Government award contracts to Norwegian bidders when they proved to be competitive. Government encouraged the establishments of Local Industries through cooperation with international companies," he said.

He added that the current situation whereby foreign companies operating in Nigeria continue to keep Nigerian engineering personnel out of major engineering projects by bringing into the country all categories of personnel in the name of experts at the expense of Nigeria's teaming Engineering personnel has to be reversed.

"The recommendations on the Government White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Committee on Strategic Plans for Engineering Development and Control in Nigeria should be fully implemented. Brazil has the best-established track record for local content development outside the first world.

"The primary objective of the Brazilian Local Content policy is to maximise goods and services, national industry content, within competitive and sustainable basis in the implementation of Oil and Gas projects in Brazil and abroad. Foreign companies are required to seek for partnerships with Local Suppliers and establish after-sales technical support," he said.

The President and Chairman of Council of NSE, Engr. Mustafa Shehu, who was impressed by the high turnout of Nigerian Engineers at the event, said that there would not have been any better theme for the workshop. He also presented awards to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and Total E and P Nig Ltd for their effort in promoting Nigerian content.