For Nigeria to achieve the 4 million barrel per day (bpd) crude oil production target, there is need to expand the market by encouraging more private sector investors to invest in building offshore blocks and other oil supporting infrastructure, said Amy Jadesimi, managing director of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL).
Jadesimi, who was a guest speaker during Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) March breakfast meeting held at the weekend, said that Nigeria needs to grow the private sector to develop the nation’s economy. “It is critically important for Nigerian economic prospect that we grow the private sector and allow them to invest in development of strategic infrastructure.”
“The success of Nigeria economy also depends on the ability to create an enabling environment for private sector companies like LADOL to have access to the market. If, we don’t grow the private sector, we are also not going to develop the economy because it is the private sector that is going to invest the needed $1trillion infrastructure for development,” she pointed.
According to her, the real private sector in Nigeria is very small because judging from what is happening at the bond market, which is 90 percent Federal Government and 9.5 percent State Government dominated, the private sector is currently making little contribution.
Jadesimi, who noted that there is also need for private sector companies to come together to deliver services that would make Nigeria competitive, observed that Nigerian private sector companies are currently struggling for ruminants from contracts in Abuja, creating situation for people to go for zero-sum-gain in place of win-win business model.
“To grow the economy, we need to come together in organisations like NBCC to create value and deliver good service with competitive cost and this would make Nigeria an attractive place to do business.”
Presenting a paper on ‘Pushing the Boundaries in the Development of Local Capacity and Nigerian Content in the Oil and Gas Industry,’ Jadesimi said oil and gas logistics companies like LADOL has built infrastructure for handling mega industrial projects such as the $3.8billion Egina Floating, Production, Supply and Offloading (FPSO) oil production platform.
“Creating an attractive environment for manufacturing and engineering operations to take place in-country at a facility like LADOL helps to create huge local and international demand for made-in-Nigeria. This is because it is actually cheaper to tap into the local market that will help put about 200 million people into the middleclass and that would have huge multiplier effects,” she added impact.
Akinola Olawore, deputy president of NBCC, who described LADOL as a one-stop-chop solution to Local Content development in Nigerian maritime, and oil and gas sectors, said there is need for regional approach to Local Content implementation.
While stating that LADOL has built a world-class facility that improves service delivery while managing cost for international oil majors, he also observed that such facility would help to address the human capacity gap, infrastructural and technical gap that are currently existing in the sector.
Aisha Abdurrahman, chairperson, Oil and Gas Committee of NBCC, who charged private companies to be consider given more jobs to Nigerians rather than expatriates, emphasised the need to properly market companies like LADOL.
She expressed worry over the level capital flight that is being created in the industry as many operators take jobs that Nigerian companies have the capacity to execute abroad.
By AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
