Elizabeth Vincent, Yenagoa
The Nigerian content development and monitoring board (NCDMB) has called for deeper collaboration among African countries to unlock the continent’s vast local content potential and accelerate economic diversification, industrialisation and sustainable development across the oil and gas value chain.
The call was made during a strategic engagement in Namibia on African local content opportunities and cross-border partnerships.
Representing the executive secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Dr. Abdulmalik Halilu stressed the need for African countries to leverage indigenous capabilities, harmonise local content policies and foster strategic partnerships among businesses to maximise value retention within the continent.
Speaking on the theme, “African local content opportunities pathway to economic diversification and development,” Halilu noted that several African countries had established legal and regulatory frameworks for local content development, providing a foundation for greater regional integration and industrial cooperation.
He said African local content policies should go beyond individual national interests by promoting the development and utilisation of cross-border capacities and capabilities as catalysts for the continent’s industrialisation.
Halilu referenced key aspirations of the 2025 APPO ministerial council Brazzaville Declaration, which encourages African countries to strengthen supplier capacity, support skills development and knowledge transfer, promote joint ventures and partnerships, harmonise local content regulations, and encourage public-private partnerships to enhance African participation in the oil and gas industry.
He also highlighted existing African capabilities in fabrication, engineering, manufacturing, subsea services, marine operations and project execution, noting that the continent possesses significant expertise that can be better harnessed through strategic collaboration among African companies and institutions.
Drawing from Nigeria’s local content experience, Halilu highlighted the transformative impact of a data-driven implementation framework since the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
According to him, robust data systems, compliance monitoring, supplier development initiatives and strategic investments have strengthened indigenous participation and enhanced competitiveness within Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
He said the future of African local content would depend largely on practical business-to-business partnerships that enable companies from different African countries to jointly pursue and execute major projects.
He identified prime-subcontractor arrangements, incorporated local content joint ventures, contractual consortium bids and reciprocal market-access alliances as effective models for expanding African participation in large-scale energy projects.
The NCDMB representative stressed that achieving an integrated Pan-African local content ecosystem would require coordinated action in areas such as regulatory harmonisation, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, immigration reforms and access to sustainable financing.
He also endorsed initiatives aimed at establishing a Pan-African supplier database and interactive opportunities platform to aggregate and showcase African capabilities and available business opportunities across the continent.
“The opportunities available across Africa can only be fully unlocked through deliberate and synchronised efforts that enable cross-border service delivery and industrial collaboration, the Brazzaville declaration represents an important starting point but implementation, partnership and policy alignment will ultimately determine the success of Pan-african local content,” Halilu stated.
He further noted that leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework and strengthening cooperation among African institutions and businesses would create new opportunities for indigenous companies to compete, collaborate and deliver world-class projects across the continent.
During the first panel session, the director of monitoring and evaluation, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, Esq., shared insights on global best practices and strategies for strengthening local participation and maximising in-country value in the oil and gas industry.
Kikile urged Namibian stakeholders to explore practical approaches to supplier development, skills transfer, enterprise growth and sustainable local content,he said lessons from the experiences of other oil-producing countries could provide useful pathways for building a resilient and sustainable oil and gas sector in Namibia.
At the 2026 Namibian oil and gas conference (NOGC), the vice president of Namibia her excellency Mrs. Lucia Witbooi also visited the NCDMB exhibition stand during an exhibition tour.
She was received by Kikile alongside other officials of the board,kikile used the opportunity to highlight the mandate and activities of the NCDMB, with particular emphasis on the NOGICD Act and its transformative impact on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
He also underscored the importance of regional collaboration and knowledge exchange in promoting sustainable growth and greater indigenous participation across Africa’s energy sector.
For a better society
Follow us across our platforms:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/championnewsonline/
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/championnewsonline
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/champion-newspapers-limited/
https://x.com/championnewsng/
You can also like and comment on our YouTube videos.
https://youtu.be/QIBfD1tT80w?si=R4Qf3so2LxYu3GC2
