Posted by Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) executive secretary Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday for announcing three Presidential Executive Orders that aim to boost the country’s oil and gas industry, attract new investments, streamline contracting, and reduce costs associated with local content requirements.
Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines, 2024 (EO 42), and the Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, ETC) Order, 2024 (EO 41) are the Executive Orders in question.
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In a speech delivered in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB emphasized that recent policy directives have expanded the scope of the Service Level Agreements (SLA) from their initial introduction in May 2017 to expedite approvals for the Nigeria LNG Limited Train 7 project to the entire industry. This expansion was made possible through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2023 with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and five international oil-producing companies.
According to Engr. Ogbe, the NOGICD Act’s schedule was not abrogated and the NCDMB’s powers were not reduced by the Presidential Executive Orders.
Rather, he claims that Executive Order 41 requires the Board to favor domestic firms that have demonstrated competence in meeting project deadlines and staying under budget.
On the same note, he brought attention to the fact that Executive Order 42 reiterated NCDMB’s duty to expedite approval procedures in accordance with the SLA and section 23 of the NOGICD Act, which states that the Board must examine project paperwork within ten days and notify the affiliated operating business.