During the global lockdown over COVID-19 pandemic; the oil companies in Nigeria were forced to send expatriates back to their countries and responsibilities that were not planned to be handed over to Nigerians were handled by them. Here is an account of big test for local content and how the Nigerian workers fared, by LADOL MD
Managing Director LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, has said that the way to move Nigeria and its economy forward is to embrace local content, currently being championed in the oil industry by the Nigeria Content Development Management Board (NCDMB).
According to her, local content will boost the nation’s economy if Nigerians are allowed and offer opportunity to exhibit their talents stressing that local content will always be reliable and cheaper in the sustainability of any given organization during and after the pandemic.
In a statement by the company, Lagos, Jadesimi said Nigerians are reliable, competent, and efficient in-service delivery when compete favorably with their foreign counterparts, stressing that, at a cheaper cost, Nigerians were able to handle more complex task during the pandemic.
“Local content is the best way to go. Look at what happened during the pandemic; the oil companies and their expatriates have to send their workers back to their countries, but Nigerians and Nigeria proved themselves because things that were not supposed to be handed over to them ordinarily were later handled exclusively by Nigerians .
Jadesimi said the offshore logistics firm was able to survive the dreaded coronavirus pandemic in 2020 due to local capacity, adding that the company also invested hugely on infrastructure, equipment, security, and personnel.
The Managing Director reiterated that the company was keenly interested to invest on human capacity because country like Nigeria in the future would be one of the focal points where people will investment due to the potential and opportunities that are abound .
She said most businesses were currently focusing on how to survive due to the pandemic saying LADOL was not an exception.
She emphasised that year 2020 was a very tough year for investors but noted that the company was basically poised to invest massively on human capacity
“Our plans at the moment is to bring back many staff as possible as the market picks up and that is very important to us because we invest a lot on people and our staff in terms of training. There is no staff that has left that we don’t want to bring back because like I always say to people, this market is big but at the same time small. I think that going forward this year, we are hoping that by Q4, we will start to see some of these up-scale and that will trigger significant hiring like probably a hundred additional people based on current projection.
According to her, LADOL was well positioned during the global pandemic as it was able to reduce cost in the sustenance of operations with increased policies and procedures to soothe the current realities associated with the pandemic.
While speaking on Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Jaiyesimi expressed hopes that the trade agreement would favour Nigeria in terms of private sector participation in the market pointing out that Nigeria will not be used as a dumping ground as earlier speculated.
“It is the private sector participation that will drive the huge benefits for Nigeria and Nigerians in AFCFTA. We want to see more accountability, transparency, access to the markets and particularly with the small and medium sizes participation in the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.
“80% of jobs will come from the small and medium size enterprises because these are the companies that will make sure that we get the maximum economic benefits from Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.”
Jadesimi noted that with adaptation to government policies, LADOL was able to establish an isolation center under Apapa Local Government adding that with teamwork, LADOL was able to scale through the hurdles of COVID19 .
