The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr Simbi Wabote has disclosed that more Nigerian operators are gradually gaining entry into the nation’s oil and gas maritime navigation sub sector.
Speaking in Lagos Monday, he said “the 2016 3rd quarter Vessel Categorisation Report indicates that 2,258 vessels currently operate in Nigerian oil and gas industry and 235 of them were built in the country. He said that 848 of the vessels were Nigerian-owned, representing 37.56 per cent”. ,
According to him, the figure represents a marked improvement from what was obtained in 2010, when over 90 per cent of the expenditure of maritime segment of the oil and gas industry was lost to foreign economies.
Wabote said that many indigenous ship owners were motivated by these policies to construct quite new vessels, judging from growth of indigenous- owned marine vessels in the oil and gas industry since2010. The executive secretary said the Board had set a target to place at least 60 per cent of marine assets operations in the hands of Nigerians by 2015. Wabote said that the Board also conceived Marine Vessel Strategy in 2011 to encourage the construction and dry docking of vessels in Nigerian yards and to promote ownership of marine vessels by Nigerian entities. He said that the Board had also stimulated flagging and registration of vessels in Nigeria, deepened Nigerian manning of marine vessels and maximised the use of Nigerians. “The Board has also deepened Nigeria manning of marine vessels and maximised the use of Nigerian service providers for legal, insurance, catering, inspection and certification for transaction and utilisation of vessels. “The Board has also deployed marine Vessel Categorisation programme as the key tool of the strategy, using indices as ownership of site of construction among others”,
He said that the implication had ensured that “vessels owned by Nigerians and built in Nigeria get priority opportunity for engagement by industry operators’’. Wabote, however, said that reports were issued periodically and they formed the basis for pre-qualification of marine service vendors in the industry.
