CED MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2017 HALL OF FAME EDITION CED MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2017 HALL OF FAME EDITION | Page 72

DEVELOPING STORY DEVELOPING STORY Y R O T S G N I P O L E V E D DEVELOPING STORY Boosting local content funding Kachikwu advocates more funds for local content development T he Minster of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, recently called on financial institutions , oil companies and other stakeholders to support the expansion of Nigerian Content Intervention Fund. Ibe Kachikwu Kachikwu made the call at the launching of a 200 million dollar Nigerian Content Intervention Fund in Abuja. The fund, provide by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), is designed to support development of capac ity for Nigerian expertise in oil and gas sector. The Fund, to be administered by Bank of the Industry (BOI), will be disbursed on a single digit interest rate of not more than eight per cent within a period of five years to qualified local players in the industry. Kachikwu said that the fund would help to galvanize some local Nigerian experts who wanted to invest in some areas but lacked sufficient funding. “ As small as the fund might be, 200 million dollars is to ginger everybody to begin to look at how to expand this fund. “My goal for this fund is at least one billion dollars and not 200 million dollars. “So once the fund is launched, we will work internally and first of all get BOI to also contribute its counterpart funding. “I also expect the oil industry to begin to say how can we contribute; whether it is through deposit to BOI, to enable us to expand this pool of fund. “I like to see investment drives that will D2 www.cedmagazineng.com September 2017 bring in Foreign Direct Investments into this fund,“ he said. He said there were series of opportunities inherent in the utilisation of the fund, hence the need for expansion. The minster also said that it was important to ensure proper disbursement of the fund. “We must be careful to see that we have reasonable geographical spread in what we are doing, so that we don’t have one geographical entity benefiting from it; so the fund must go round, that is key. “Secondly, I like to see this fund go to cutting edge technology driven businesses; we need to look for things that are not there as basic normal day to day activities. “He said there was the need to ensure sectoral spread of the fund in the downstream, upstream and mainstream sub sectors. He also emphasised the need to consider and incorporate the oil producing communities in the disbursement of the fund. The minster urged oil companies to identify indigenous companies operating within their domain and support them to grow capacity. This, he said, would help to develop the industry further. “The whole idea is for oil companies to identify within their own domain in the last five years, 10 companies that have worked with them and have capacity but lacked in certain things that can help them grow. “The oil companies can help them grow by giving them adequate patronage, support, by getting training, some time providing certain technology that they can grow with. “This industry will not grow by Nigerian company just struggling alone to grow, we have a moral responsibility as oil industry to help the companies grow. “He thanked NCDMB for its effort at promoting local content, adding that NCDMB should place a benchmark on when to exit the use of foreign capacity in some areas. “We must begin to drive local content development in the oil industry; once we succeed, the rest sectors of the economy will grow. He said efforts were on to reduce the cost of oil production in the country. “But NNPC has done a good job by bringing it down to 23, but that is not where we are heading; where we are heading is 15 per cent and is not 18. “We must bring down cost of production; we must look at our OPEC brothers in the face and be able to compete adequately; oil companies must rise to the challenges of producing oil, so the target is 15, and we will achieve that. “The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, said the fund was the realisation of NCDMB’s efforts to address persistent funding challenge that hindered capacity and growth of local service providers in oil and gas. He said Nigeria had developed capacity to handle fabrication of more than 60,000 tonnes. “I personally went round to see these fabrication yards, based on my findings, I can boldly say there is nothing we cannot fabricate in Nigeria. “In manufacturing, we have grown capacities such that all cables required in the oil and gas sector are all manufactured in Nigeria. “ Same for bolts, nuts and flanges, fully certified to the required oil and gas industry standards for onshore and offshore projects. “He said that NCDMB had developed a 10-year strategic plan to achieve its local content development plans in the oil and gas sector. He said that one of the plans was to actively promote and support Indigenous companies venturing into deepwater offshore projects and operations. He said the plan also consisted of development in the upstream, downstream and mainstream sub sectors . Increasing road access Zambia awards a US$1.2bn road contract to a Chinese firm Z ambia has awarded China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Co- operation (CJIC) a US$1.2bn contract to expand part of a key road linking Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and southern African neighbours. The Chinese firm will build the 321km Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway over four years. Zambia President Edgar Lungu said during the project launch. Zambia is Africa’s second biggest copper producer and Ndola is the capital of the nation’s copper-belt region. Chinese investment in Zambia already includes roads, agriculture, mining and energy projects such as a 750MW hydro-power station in the south of the country. According to President Lungu, the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway will improve the flow of traffic, thereby drastically reducing road traffic accidents 2HP on the country roads. He further said that, “Increased traffic on our roads due to the booming economic activities in various sectors, especially in the mining sector, requires an appropriate response such as this one.” Moreover, the project is one of the biggest in Zambia’s history. However, the project is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs during the construction phase. Besides, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping said in 2015 that the country will plough US$60bn into African development projects to boost agriculture, build roads, ports and railways and cancel some debt. Also Read: Zambia government invest US$1bn for the development of aviation infrastructure About CJIC Approved by the State Council of the large 3HP 5HP People’s Republic of China an d registered in 1983, is a large compound foreign economic enterprise, focusing on international project contracting and labor services cooperation and diversified undertaking the business of domestic real estate, architectural design, overseas investment and trading simultaneously. The corporation had gained and been awarded the following professional Certificates and Qualifications in China: SO 9001:2000 Quality Management System Authentication , GB/T 28001- 2001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System, ISO14001:2004. Environmental Management System, Grade 1 Contracting Qualification in building project and Contracting Qualification in water conservancy and hydroelectric project, Contracting Qualification in municipal public works, Specialized sub-contracting qualification in mechanical and electrical works, Specialized sub-contracting qualification in lift installation, Specialized sub- contracting qualification in sport facilities. Meanwhile, the corporation also obtained the top grade contracting qualifications in building project, water conservancy and hydroelectric project and road and bridge project in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia. Therefore, the corporation is honorably selected to be the vice-chairman member of China International Contractors Association (CHINCA), the supreme coordination organization for the industry of international economic and technical cooperation in the People’s Republic of China. Century 21 Systems Limited 14, Shofidiya Close, Off Ilesanmi Street, Masha, Surulere, Lagos, NIGERIA Tel: [phone]; Mobile: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]; www.century21systems.com.ng www.cedmagazineng.com September 2017 |D3