‘Local Content Act Has Saved $380bn Capital Flight’

The Local Content Act (2010)  has saved  Nigeria about three hundred and eighty billion dollars capital flight since the  law was  adopted .
The Executive Secretary of Nigeria Local Content Development Agency, Eng. Kesiye Wabote, made this claim while briefing the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) and Gas, during a public hearing. At the National Assembly Complex recently.
According to the Executive Secretary, the Act opened opportunities for  fabrications of equipment for the oil and gas industry  locally, thereby creating job for unemployed Nigerians unlike before that such jobs    were done abroad.
The public hearing titled “Implementation of local content and compliance with Nigerian oil and gas industry content development Act by industry operators and investigation into the utilisation of the Nigerian content development fund”, aims at creating efficiency in the sector.
Wabote, who also represented the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, further disclosed that about two million jobs were lost before the Act was enacted in 2010 before the cumulative job loss was put at 5 per cent.
He explained that the aim of the Act was to engage   Nigerian professionals and artisans in various  services in the oil and gas industry, pointing out that between  2010 to 2012, sanctions were applied on defaulting oil companies.
Enumerating the gains of   the Local Content  Act, Wabote said, the Act  had helped to attract investment into the Nigeria oil and gas sector thereby stimulating business and economy of the country while  about $15billion had been ploughed back into the Nigerian economy, with about 56 per cent of fabrications works now done within  the country.
He also  said that Nigeria now handles 60,000 tons of fabrication works in the sector, while pipes which used to be imported into the country and coated by foreign companies were  today being coated in the country.
The Executive Secretary said  the country now have a pipe manufacturing mills, but wants to set up another two since most of the jobs in the maritime sector is done with steel. He said expertrate quoter has been used by the board of local content to increase industry capability since the Act was put in place.