We've invested $5bn in local content devpt - Nwapa

The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, said the board had invested $5bn in the country's economy.

Nwapa explained that the fit was achieved as a result of the board's insistence that oil and gas manufacturing companies are located in the country to ease the availability of facilities.

Speaking during the inauguration of Benkline Workshop in Port Harcourt on Saturday, Nwapa promised that the Federal Government would support every investment in the country.

He stated that the government was ready to confront any opposition to investment in the nation's economy, adding that the amount of investment expected within the next five years would be enormous.

The NCDBM boss expressed the need for investors to do their businesses in a legitimate manner in order to ensure the sustainability of their investments.

He said, 'This government is going to support every investment that is made here. If you tally the total value of where we have visited to commission facilities in the last four years, you will have $5bn worth of investments in this economy, just by insisting these things are done in our economy. So you can imagine where we would be in the next five years.

'Our commitment is that any investment that is made in Nigeria, we would wrestle anybody to the ground to make sure that work is put in there. If you want to continue in this business, you must do it the way it is done or even better than in other jurisdictions. That is the only guarantee that will make you have a sustainable business.'

Describing Bekline Nigeria Limited, an oil and gas equipment and service provider, as a trail blazer in original equipment manufacturing and services, Nwapa stated that the organisation was ahead of the board's plan.

He said, 'Several pumps from the Nigerian oil and gas industry had been moved out of the country for repairs in the past, but if we have a few companies like Benkline, there will be a reverse migration of technology into the country.

'The strategy we have adopted will attract other people. By the time the big operators begin to put their work here, even the indigenous companies that today have problems with doing things in Nigeria will have a rethink.

'We are challenging the indigenous producer to begin to partner and patronize local service companies so that the market will expand. The market in Nigeria is big on its own but we often fail to realize that Nigeria is often seen as salvation location by other African countries.'

Earlier, the Chairman, Board of Directors, Bekline Nigeria Limited, Mr. Larry Osai, pointed out that though the owners of the organisation had passed on, their legacies of being among the best in equipment manufacturing for the oil and gas sector.

Osai explained that the workshop established by the company would close the gap in equipment manufacturing and services, saying, 'All these would not have been possible if we did not have a government that have put the Local Content Law in place.

'The partners we have today; FRAMO and Eurofiliales have done a lot for the growth of the company and we cannot be grateful enough.' Punch