Peter Uzoho
Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has called for deeper collaboration among African nations to unlock the continent’s enormous local content potential and accelerate economic diversification, industrial growth, and sustainable development across the oil and gas value chain.
Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, advanced the position during a strategic engagement in Namibia focused on African Local Content Opportunities and cross-border partnerships, according to a statement by NCDMB’s Corporate Communications department.
Representing by a director at the agency, Dr. Abdulmalik Halilu, Ogbe highlighted the importance of leveraging African capabilities, harmonising local content policies, and fostering strategic partnerships among African businesses to maximise value retention within the continent.
Speaking on the theme, “African Local Content Opportunities: Pathway to Economic Diversification and Development,” he stated that several African countries had established legal and regulatory frameworks for local content development, creating a foundation for greater regional integration and industrial cooperation.
He emphasised that African local content should promote the development and utilisation of cross-border capacities and capabilities as a catalyst for the industrialization of Africa.
Ogbe referenced key aspirations of the 2025 African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) Ministerial Council Brazzaville Declaration, which encouraged African nations 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.
Ogbe also highlighted existing African capabilities across fabrication, engineering, manufacturing, subsea services, marine operations, and project execution, demonstrating that the continent possesses significant capacity that can be leveraged through strategic collaboration among African companies and institutions.
Drawing from Nigeria’s local content success story, Ogbe emphasised the transformative impact of a data-driven implementation framework, underlining the significant growth achieved since the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
He stated that robust data systems, compliance monitoring, supplier development initiatives, and strategic investments had strengthened local participation and enhanced industry competitiveness.
According to him, the future of African local content lies in practical business-to-business partnerships that enable companies from different African countries to jointly pursue and execute major projects.
He outlined partnership models, such as prime-subcontractor arrangements, incorporated local content joint ventures, contractual consortium bids, and reciprocal market access alliances as effective mechanisms for expanding African participation in large-scale energy projects.
He stressed that realising a truly integrated African local content ecosystem would require coordinated action across multiple sectors, including regulatory harmonisation, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, immigration reforms, and access to sustainable financing.
Ogbe also endorsed initiatives aimed at creating a Pan-African supplier database and interactive opportunities platform to aggregate and showcase African capabilities.
He stated, “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.”
He said the board believed that leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework and strengthening cooperation among African institutions and businesses will create new opportunities for indigenous companies to compete, collaborate, and deliver world-class projects across the continent.
During the first panel session, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, NCDMB, Mr. Esueme Kikile, shared his views on global best practices, perspectives on strategies for strengthening local participation, and maximising in-country value in the oil and gas industry.
Kikile implored Namibians to explore practical approaches to supplier development, skill transfer, enterprise growth, and sustainable local content with discussions highlighting lessons from successes of other oil producing countries and their relevance to building a resilient and sustainable oil and gas sector.
According to the statement, during the exhibition tour at the 2026 Namibian Oil and Gas Conference (NOGC), Vice President of Namibia, Mrs. Lucia Witbooi, visited the NCDMB exhibition stand.
Kikile highlighted the board’s mandates and activities, emphasising the significance of NOGICD Act and its transformative impact on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
He underscored the importance of regional collaboration and knowledge exchange in advancing sustainable growth across Africa’s energy sector.