Nigerian content fund exceeds N208bn – Wabote

The executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr Simbi Wabote, has said the Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund has now exceeded half a billion dollars (N208 billion) and is up for the qualified oil and gas companies.

Speaking during the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Conference (SAIPEC) organised in Lagos by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Engr Wabote explained that the NCI Fund, which is extended as low-cost credit to qualified oil and gas companies, covered assets acquisition, projects financing, manufacturing, working capital, loans refinancing, women in oil and gas, research and development. 

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The NCDMB corporate communication department, in a statement, quoted Wabote as saying that the NCI Fund is a component of the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) which is accumulated through one per cent deductions from contracts awarded in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

He added that the board was using the NCDF to catalyse the construction of modular refineries, gas processing plants, LPG terminals and bottling plants, LPG cylinder manufacturing plants, lube oil blending plants, base oil production plants, methanol production plants, and many others.

Dwelling on the topic: “Sub-Saharan Africa Local Content Collaboration Strategy”, Mr Wabote stated that an enabling regulatory framework backed with the appropriate legislation was very fundamental in local content practice, and commended African oil producers for putting in place investor-friendly laws to promote the oil and gas industry, as well as ongoing collaboration among the countries to advance the local content journey.