From Kenechukwu Obiajuru, Yenagoa
The Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri Ph.D, has called for a decisive shift in the understanding and implementation of local content in Africa’s oil and gas sector, urging stakeholders to move beyond regulatory compliance to building globally competitive industrial capacity.
Speaking during the Local Content session of the #NIES2026 pre-conference opening ceremony at Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre (BATICC), Abuja, the Minister said local content must no longer be treated as a box-ticking exercise but as a strategic tool for economic transformation. “Local content is not just about compliance. It is about capacity. It is about capability. And most importantly, it is about control of our industrial future,” he stated.
Sen. Lokpobiri noted that past distortions in Nigeria’s local content framework, including middlemanism and the rise of briefcase companies, undermined genuine capacity development, drove away major Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms, and sidelined serious Nigerian service companies. He stressed that the government moved swiftly to correct these distortions through Presidential Directives, Executive Orders, sector reforms, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), and the proper application of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGIC) Act.
“Local content must build companies that can stand on their own, compete globally, and carry the Nigerian flag beyond our borders,” the Minister said, adding that Nigeria’s approach is designed to serve as a scalable model for other African producing nations.
He further explained that funds administered by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) are now being deployed intentionally, with strict accountability to ensure they translate into real assets, skills, and competitiveness. “That era where funds were accessed without building sustainable capacity is over,” he declared. “Local content should create champions, not dependants.”
The Minister also emphasized that Nigeria’s strategy is not anti-international partnership but focused on resetting relationships to ensure skills transfer and long-term value retention. According to him, when properly implemented, oil and gas can become an industrial anchor that drives manufacturing, innovation, and job creation across Africa.
