The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has said that regional integration should be embraced in Africa as it is a key strategy to develop the region’s oil and gas industry.
The Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, NCDMB, Tunde Adelana made this known during a Webinar hosted by Majorwaves Energy Report recently, with the theme; “Optimising Local Content through Regional Integration in a post-COVID-19 Africa.”
He said Africa is a very rich continent and has a lot of mineral resources, adding that research should be encouraged in the continent to develop these local resources.
“We need to do some more research into our local resources, to see how they can be utilized to support, not just the oil and gas sector, but the entire economy at large.
“R&D is the bedrock of any development. We need to continue to evolve, to create values. R&D is very key to this and I think this is one of the opportunities that Africa as a continent needs to take on, post Covid-19.”
“Nigeria has abundant skills. We have abundant capabilities and competencies, given the length of time, we have been in this industry (60 years). Our achievements speak for themselves. And for the rest of Africa, there is a lot you can learn from Nigerians.”
“Our principle is Local Content, and it is not about indigenization. It is about domiciliation and domestication. It means, brings it to us and do it here, our people will learn from it and become experts in that field.
“Africa’s oil-producing countries can develop their technological capacities and capabilities by learning from Nigeria if regional integration is embraced as a survival strategy post COVID-19”