The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has canvassed a review of the Local Content Act to reflect current realities in the oil and gas industry.
Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, according to a statement released on Wednesday, also said there was need for legislation to address funding constraints faced by local operators in the industry.
The statement said Kyari spoke at a virtual stakeholders’ consultative summit organised by the Senate Committee on Local Content.
Speaking through the Group General Manager, Corporate Planning & Strategy, Mrs Eyesan Oritsemeyiwa, Kyari stressed the need for indigenous companies operating in the oil and gas sector to build their capacity in order to compete globally.
According to him, local operators in the oil and gas sector require high technical skills to compete favourably on the global stage.
He also spoke of the need to improve the capacity of the education sector to produce highly skilled manpower for the industry.
Stressing the need to develop local content, he said, “In terms of the interaction between industry and education, we think these new bills would present a good model that we should work with. People are the greatest assets of any nation.
“If you have the best brains in the industry today, as long as you are not getting a good replacement for them from the educational sector when they grow old and retire, then your industry will collapse.”
Kyari equally urged the National Assembly to expedite action on the proposed review and amendment of the Local Content Act, noting that the legislation should be extended beyond the oil and gas industry to other sectors of the nation’s economy.
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