Society Gists

NCDMB’s investment integrity is the cornerstone of its success in fostering sustainable growth within the Nigerian oil and gas sector. By upholding transparency, accountability, and fairness in its investment processes, NCDMB can attract investors, mitigate corruption risks, promote fair competition, and maximize socioeconomic benefits. It is imperative that NCDMB continues to prioritize investment integrity to build a robust and resilient oil and gas industry, driving Nigeria’s economic prosperity in the long run.

In fulfilling its mandate to make procedures that will guide, monitor, coordinate and implement the provisions of the NOGICD Act signed into law on April 22, 2010 as a vital agency of government, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has forged commercial partnerships with a number of local companies. Some of the companies have vested interest in Energy, Oil and Gas and the projects so far embarked upon include but not limited to:

Southfield Petroleum on 200-million Gas-Processing Plant, Butane Energy Limited on 5 LPG Storage/Bottling Plants and 6 LPG Depots, Atlantic International Refinery, Deep Offshore Logistics Base on Takwa Bay Power Plant, Duport Midstream Company Limited on Energy Park, Waltersmith Petroman on Waltersmith Modular Refinery, Rungas Limited, BUNORR Production Plant and NEDO Gas Facility.

In these diverse ventures, NCDMB has invested millions of Dollars in both ongoing and completed projects and as the board continues to provide oxygen to many companies that would have gone comatose, seeing these audacious dreams to fruition remains commendable.

A loud testament to NCDMB’s success is the commissioning of the Waltersmith Modular Refinery located in Ibigwe, Imo State in which NCDMB holds a 30 percent equity investment- a 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery, the project was announced in 2018 as one of the modular refineries to help meet in-country demands for petroleum products in Nigeria and to discourage importation.

Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, commissioned the project in November 2020 and also laid the ground-breaking ceremony for the expansion of the project to 50,000 barrels per day. The refinery is projected to help create job opportunities and improve business prospects for many organisations around its location.

Worthy of note also is the Nigerian Content Tower, an imposing 17-storey building that has been successfully completed. The project, located in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, kicked off in 2015. The state-of-the-art edifice, which has a 1000-seater capacity auditorium and four-level car park, was commissioned in 2020 virtually by Buhari also.

Another significant milestone is the completion of the 10megawatts Bayelsa Power Plant. Conceived as a project to accompany the Nigerian Content Tower, the 10-megawatts gas-fired Independent Power Plant is located at Elebele in Bayelsa State. The construction of the power plant was done in partnership with the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to provide uninterrupted electricity to the NCDMB structures, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Emeyal 1 Bayelsa State as well as select structures in Bayelsa State.

According to industry experts, another accomplishment recorded by the Board is the implementation of the strategic roadmap it developed on Nigerian content. It’s not in doubt that considerable progress has been made, with Nigerian Content having grown from 26% to 35% within four years. As such, it is on track to achieve the 70% target by 2027.

Although the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engineer Simbi Wabote, often reiterates that the Board committed equity investments into strategic projects that align with government policies with a view to catalysing them to success and would exit once those businesses become successful, the undisclosed status of some of the projects is worrisome, according to industry observers. Many still recall that, according to the NCDMB boss, the investments were made to align with the Board’s vision to be a catalyst for the industrialization of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.

Pundits’ major concern is the status of the ongoing projects, for some of which the projected completion time has elapsed, thereby giving reasons to interrogate the partners’ commitment.

One of the major projects with NCDMB’s partnership, but which has not progressed as expected is the 200-million metric standard cubic feet of gas-processing plant. The project, for which the Board entered into a partnership with Southfield Petroleum, is expected to produce 123,000 million tons per annum of LPG, 10 per cent of current LPG demand in the country. 

Located in Utorogu, Delta State, the project was announced in 2016 and completion was projected for 2018, but progress seems to have stalled, leading to Wabote defending the project five years after the time of completion announced at inception.

Two other projects which are yet to be completed nearly three years after relate to investments involving the flamboyant self-styled super-entrepreneur Dr Akintoye Akindele. The public may recall that Duport Midstream Company Limited’s Energy Park project which comprises 2,500 barrels of crude oil per day modular refinery, 40 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing plant and 2 megawatts power plant was due for completion in Q4 2022. Save for the July 1, 2022 announcement by Wabote that the facility will be ready for production at the end of July, 2022, NCDMB is yet to go public with any other information to address the delay till date.

When Wabote spoke about the project during an inspection tour in July 2022, he did not dwell on why the project failed to meet the timeline of 2022’s Q4. What he said, however, gave an inkling that all was not well with the project.

“There have been substantial improvements. In March, we were here to do our inspection and also had a board meeting. During the meeting, the board mandated Duport to carry out a lot of activities with a view to officially commissioning this in June. But by then, it was July and there was hardly any greater hint than that,” he had stated.

Already, there are feelers that all is not well with the partnering firm’s management as there are wranglings that may destabilise the board and result in ouster of certain key leaders. Luckily, the NCDMB is apparently taking the role of “the elder in the room” and trying to sue for peace while asking probing questions. Several months ago, the NCDMB made a request for forensic auditing of the company’s account. 

Similarly, in the NCDMB’s collaboration with Dr Akintoye Akindele on the Atlantic International Refinery project is reported to have also run into significant issues and there again, the NCDMB has demanded a forensic audit.  These audits, according to privileged sources, are yet to be concluded and the reasons for the delay are unknown.

Under normal circumstances, with combined investment in these two projects of over $40 million dollars, the NCDMB should also be asking for an independent review of the strategic plan of the projects and insisting on urgent remedial steps. 

It is intriguing to some observers that the energetic Dr Akindele, who parades a long list of corporate awards such Honouree for Service to Young People (Future Africa Awards 2022), Oil & Gas CEO of The Year (Business Day 2022), Most Influential People of African Decent (Hall of Fame 2022), African Business Leader of the Year (Africa Leadership Magazine 2022), Congressional Commendation Award (State of Georgia 2021), Business Accessibility and Inclusion Champion (FEMNET 2022), etc is enmeshed in uncompleted projects deals and partner rumblings. Others claim that it may reflect his corporate governance culture and practices.

Industry observers warn that the time to act is now lest the NCDMB risks courting public scepticism in other commercial partnerships.  Concerned stakeholders are worried and have continued to warn the leadership of NCDMB to tighten the noose and do deeper due diligence on all the boards to ensure partners in all the projects deliver their end of the contracts timeously.