The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will soon release a new set of rules for disbursing the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF).
This was part of the outcome of the sixth Practical Nigerian Content Conference, which ended in Abuja last week.The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, yesterday confirmed that the board would come up with transparent guidelines on the application and utilisation of the fund in line with Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010.
It will also address lack of funding faced by manufacturers, service providers and other key players.The fund is pooled from one per cent of every contract awarded in the upstream sector of the industry and is managed by the board.
Other resolutions of the conference included the commitment of the NCDMB to set timelines for responding to documents referred to it as part of strategies to shorten the contracting cycle.
The board also announced that it would expand its operations to the midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry in line with Section 106 of the Nigerian Content Act.
The NCDMB also pledged to support efforts to implement local content across other sectors of the economy, including power, ICT and construction. Operators of the sectors were challenged to develop and use bespoke regulations to guide the implementation of local content in their industries pending the development of statutes.
Participants also stressed the need for collaboration between the board, operators and the academia to enhance research and development and charged the board to pursue the adoption of select institutions under adopt a faculty initiative.
Source: Guardian
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