The Federal Government has outlined a renewed strategy to reposition local content as a catalyst for cost competitiveness, indigenous capacity development and sustainable value retention in the energy sector, with oil and gas identified as critical enablers of industrial growth, peace, and shared prosperity across Africa.

The strategy was articulated at the session titled “Local Content Beyond Compliance: Building African Industrial Powerhouses” during the 9th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2026), convened under the theme “Energy for Peace and Prosperity: Securing Our Shared Future.”

The Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, while delivering his speech at the summit, described local content as central to Africa’s energy growth. He, however, said its misapplication over the years had contributed to inflated project costs and limited capacity development for indigenous companies.

According to him, one of the first challenges he confronted upon assumption of office was the paradox of oil and gas projects being more expensive in Nigeria than in comparable producing jurisdictions. He explained that this was largely traced to an ineffective application of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, which shifted emphasis from genuine capacity building to transactional compliance.

Lokpobiri emphasised that the original intent of the Act was never to displace international Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies but to foster structured collaboration between EPC firms and capable indigenous companies, saying such collaboration was designed to introduce competition, reduce project costs and grow sustainable local capacity.

He added that the Federal Government is strengthening strategic oversight of local content financing mechanisms to ensure that available funding supports companies committed to long-term growth, value creation and regional competitiveness, rather than short-term rent-seeking.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources (MPR), Mrs Patience Oyekunle, described natural gas as the backbone of Nigeria’s industrialisation drive and Africa’s most immediate, scalable, and inclusive pathway to economic diversification and shared prosperity.

He noted that gas occupies a central position in Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, serving both as a transition fuel and a foundational industrial feedstock.

According to him, the gas value chain, spanning power generation, clean cooking, fertilisers, petrochemicals, methanol, compressed natural gas (CNG) for transportation, and gas-based manufacturing, offers vast opportunities for job creation, industrial clustering, and regional integration.

Ekpo emphasised that for gas to effectively deliver peace and prosperity, Nigeria must deliberately build indigenous capacity across the entire gas value chain. This includes engineering and project execution, gas processing, pipeline construction, operations and maintenance, fabrication, LNG and FLNG services, as well as downstream utilisation.

He stated that Nigerian and African companies must not only participate in gas projects, but must become productive, innovative, bankable, and export-ready, while noting that performance-driven local content in the gas sector requires a new compact among stakeholders.

“Government must provide clear, stable and coordinated policy signals that reward long-term investment and capability development. Industry operators must embed local capacity building into project design from inception, while financial institutions must innovate to de-risk gas projects for indigenous firms”, the Head, Press & Public Relations of the MPR, Chris Ugwuegbulam, quoted Ekpo as saying.

 

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