Featured, Oil & Gas
By Anthony Isibor
INDUSTRY leaders have called for stronger collaboration among African countries to deepen local content, expand manufacturing and improve access to finance, saying the continent must move beyond national policies to build regional industrial capacity.
The call was made during the first strategic panel session at the 2026 NOG Energy Week in Abuja, themed “Building Africa’s Local Content Alliances – Progress, Gaps and Opportunities.”
Speaking at the panel discussion, the Director of Corporate Services at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Abdulmalik Halilu, said that Nigeria’s local content policy had created a governance framework that inspired investor confidence and raised local participation in the oil and gas industry.
He said that the establishment of the NCDMB, the Nigerian Content Development Fund and clear implementation targets had strengthened indigenous participation, while dedicated financing through development finance institutions had enabled local companies to expand.
Halilu cited the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, managed with the Bank of Industry, as one of the board’s major achievements, noting that one beneficiary had expanded its fleet from four to more than 15 vessels after accessing a $10 million facility.
He also pointed to growth in local manufacturing, saying Nigerian companies supplied over 2 million metres of cables for the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project and that the country now has an FPSO integration yard.
Despite the progress, Halilu said that capacity utilisation remained a major challenge.
According to him, an NCDMB baseline survey showed fabrication facilities were operating at only about 32 per cent capacity, underscoring the need to accelerate new oil and gas projects to sustain investments already made by indigenous companies.
He added that Africa must prioritise domestic manufacturing because manufactured products account for more than half of engineering, procurement and construction project costs.
Halilu also stressed the importance of research and development, urging African companies to invest in innovation to remain competitive.
The Director of the Petroleum Upstream Unit in Namibia’s Office of the President, Maggy Shino, said that Namibia had benefited from learning the lessons of more established oil-producing countries after making its first commercial oil discovery in 2022.
She said that the country had already developed a local content policy ahead of first oil, expected in 2029, to ensure investors understand the government’s expectations before production begins.
According to Shino, Namibia’s policy focuses on building capability rather than ownership alone, while leveraging existing expertise from the country’s mining and fishing industries to develop skills for the petroleum sector.
According to her, the policy also requires financial institutions to support indigenous suppliers that secure contracts, addressing one of the biggest barriers facing local businesses.
“We want to build an industry that is competitive, inclusive and sustainable,” she said, adding that government and industry must work together to align policies with the skills required by investors.
The Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, Wole Ogunsanya, said that Nigerian indigenous service companies had developed world-class capabilities and were already executing projects across several African countries.
He, however, identified inadequate project development as the biggest constraint to further local content growth.
According to him, Nigeria has sufficient technical capacity to support higher production, but requires more investments in field development and greater access to financing for indigenous companies.
Ogunsanya also called for increased funding under the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund to enable local firms acquire specialised equipment needed for the industry.
The Executive Secretary of the African Local Content Association, ALCA, Ibrahima Talla, said that African countries must harmonise their local content frameworks to allow indigenous companies operate across borders.
He noted that while local content policies had successfully promoted domestic participation, they often limited African companies from competing in other African markets.
Talla said that the continent’s regulators needed a common agenda that connects local capabilities with opportunities across Africa, arguing that stronger cooperation would enable indigenous firms to benefit from the growing number of oil and gas projects in countries, including Namibia, Senegal and Mozambique.
W.U
July 6, 2026
Tags: Abdulmalik Halilu Ibrahima Talla MAGGY Shino Wole Ogunsanya