The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has called for stronger collaboration among African countries to harness the continent’s local content potential, promote economic diversification and accelerate industrial development across the oil and gas value chain.
Key Highlights:
- NCDMB seeks stronger Pan-African cooperation on local content development.
- Board urges African countries to harmonise local content policies and regulations.
- Nigeria’s local content experience cited as a model for other African countries.
- NCDMB proposes stronger business-to-business partnerships across the continent.
- AfCFTA identified as a platform for expanding opportunities for African businesses.
- Board supports the development of a Pan-African supplier database and opportunities platform.
- The call was made during a strategic engagement in Namibia focused on African Local Content Opportunities and cross-border partnerships.
Representing the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Dr Abdulmalik Halilu highlighted the importance of leveraging African capabilities, harmonising local content policies and developing strategic partnerships among African businesses to retain more value within the continent.
Speaking on the theme, “African Local Content Opportunities: Pathway to Economic Diversification and Development,” Halilu said several African countries had established legal and regulatory frameworks for local content development, providing a foundation for deeper regional integration and industrial cooperation.
He said African local content should promote the development and utilisation of cross-border capacities and capabilities as a means of accelerating the industrialisation of the continent.
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Halilu referenced key aspirations of the 2025 APPO Ministerial Council Brazzaville Declaration, which encourages African countries to strengthen supplier capacity, support skills development and knowledge transfer, promote joint ventures and partnerships, harmonise local content regulations and expand public-private partnerships in the oil and gas industry.
He also highlighted existing African capabilities in fabrication, engineering, manufacturing, subsea services, marine operations and project execution.
According to him, these capabilities demonstrate that Africa already possesses significant technical capacity that can be deployed more effectively through strategic collaboration among companies and institutions across the continent.
NCDMB Highlights Nigeria’s Local Content Experience
Drawing from Nigeria’s local content experience, Halilu highlighted the impact of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act on indigenous participation in the petroleum industry.
He said the implementation of the Act, supported by data-driven monitoring, supplier development initiatives, compliance systems and strategic investments, had contributed to the growth of Nigerian participation and improved competitiveness in the oil and gas sector.
Halilu said the Nigerian experience showed the importance of reliable data, effective regulation and deliberate investment in developing local suppliers and technical capacity.
He argued that the next phase of African local content development should focus on practical business-to-business partnerships that allow companies from different African countries to jointly pursue and execute major projects.
He identified prime-subcontractor arrangements, incorporated local content joint ventures, contractual consortium bids and reciprocal market access alliances as possible models for expanding African participation in large-scale energy projects.
NCDMB Seeks Harmonised Local Content Policies
The NCDMB representative said the creation of an integrated African local content ecosystem would require coordinated action in several areas, including regulatory harmonisation, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, immigration reforms and access to sustainable financing.
He also endorsed initiatives aimed at establishing a Pan-African supplier database and interactive opportunities platform to aggregate and showcase the capabilities of African companies.
Halilu maintained that the opportunities available across the continent could only be fully realised through deliberate and coordinated efforts that support cross-border service delivery and industrial collaboration.
“The Brazzaville Declaration represents an important starting point, but implementation, partnership, and policy alignment will ultimately determine the success of Pan-African local content,” Halilu stated.
He further said NCDMB believed that leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework and strengthening cooperation among African institutions and businesses would create new opportunities for indigenous companies.
According to him, stronger regional cooperation would enable African businesses to compete, collaborate and deliver major energy projects across the continent while retaining a greater share of the economic value generated from Africa’s natural resources.
The NCDMB said deeper Pan-African local content collaboration would ultimately support economic diversification, industrial development, skills transfer and sustainable growth across Africa.
