NCDMB disburses $21 million to local firms from local content fund
Bukola Odufade is Businessamlive Reporter.
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Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says it has disbursed $21 million out of the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) to local oil and gas service companies in an attempt to provide funding support to build in-country capacity.
The fund is being disbursed directly by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and was created to address persistent funding challenge that hindered capacity and growth of local service providers in oil and gas.
Simbi Wabote, executive secretary of the NCDMB made this announcement at the 8th Practical Nigerian Content Workshop, adding that the fund was being given out as loan to beneficiaries. He further said the board develop and launch an investment policy to further provide flexibility to its funding and investment interventions.
Wabote disclosed that the board had commenced the forensic audit of remittances to the Nigeria Local Content fund Fund and has fulfilled its promise to put in place third party monitors to enhance compliance monitoring in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of the industry.
“By 2019, we intend to deepen and widen the roll-out of third party monitoring service providers for effective monitoring of the 51 operating companies and close to 8,000 oil and gas service providers registered on our NOGIC-JQS. In addition, we will further expand our compliance and enforcement framework to cover marginal field operators, midstream and downstream sectors,” he added.
He also hinted that in 2019 the board had plans to support the establishment of at least one more modular refinery and participate in the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) value chain.
NCDMB had in 2018 taken 30 percent equity stake in the 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery in Ibigwe, Imo State.