A few days ago, the Nigerian Content summit in Oil and Gas was held at the Transcop Hilton Hotel, Abuja with the theme “Building long-term measurable strategies for sustainable local content growth towards the realisation of vision 2020.” The summit provided an opportunity for state holders in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria to brain storm towards meeting government’s set target of 70 per cent local content participation by the year 2010.

This target is not just about creating work and of providing role opportunities alone. It is about developing in-country capability through systematic resources. In other words, it is intended to make Nigerians acquire skills and capabilities to participate fully in activities in the oil and gas business without compromising safety or standards.

The Nigerian content initiative is also intended to promote partnering and strategic alliances so that all front welding and engineering works are done in Nigeria. It is envisaged that this will increase the share of contracts to local companies in the country. When achieved, the impact envisioned include, general improvement in the quality of life for local communities, increase in communal confidence, empowerment and development of youths through the creation of thousands of new jobs for engineers, welders, fitters and technicians.

Speaking at the summit on Monday, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who was represented by the Minister of state for Energy in charge of petroleum, Mr. H. Odein Ajumogobia observed that the sector was the most significant revenue earner for the nation and would continue to play that role in the foreseeable future considering the outlook of the petroleum market and regardless of the hype about alternative energy. He stated that in spite of the huge income accruing from oil and gas, the contribution of the sector to the nation’s gross domestic product is still low at about 35 per cent. Nigeria craves to achieve a sustained GDP of about 6.1 per cent with the oil and gas sector contributing no less than 30 per cent per annum.

He said that as the initiator of the Nigeria content policy, government must remain committed to ensuring that optimum results are achieved in domiciling the nation’s resources which would otherwise have been taken abroad. The Minister identified what needs be done to remain on course towards achieving success with the Nigerian content policy.

In her presentation, the General Manager, Nigeria Petroleum Exchange, Mrs. U. J. Adeniji averred that the oil and gas sector contributes minimally to the nation’s GDP in spite of being the largest revenue earner for Nigeria largely because of the low participation of Nigerians in the industry. She expressed regrets that in terms of capacity, Nigeria was yet to develop expertise neither in the deepwater sector nor on land operation.

She identified the absence of enabling legislation to back up Nigerian content drive, inadequate technical resource, gaps in the curriculums and weak linkage between private sector and tertiary institutions as some of the factors militating against local content growth.

We cannot agree more with these salient issues highlighted at the summit. For the Nigerian Content initiative to succeed, efforts should be made to tackle these identified lapses. As the saying goes, a problem identified is half solved; however, this is if it is backed by prompt action. It is only by so doing that the lofty dreams behind the local content idea would be actualised.