“‘Not a NASS Of Voice Votes,’ Two Third of Lawmakers Passed Nigerian Content Law When National Assembly was Vibrant,” You want to read the key things the former President said in Bayelsa venue of Champions of Nigerian Content Awards
Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has declared that the Western crude oil exploration companies in Nigeria took undue advantage of the country’s weak law at the early stage of hydrocarbon search and production.
Mentioning Shell, Chevron and Agip, the first president from the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country maintained that these firms did to Nigeria what they couldn’t do to China.
Platforms Africa reports that Jonathan said this at the Champions of Nigerian Content Awards Dinner organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The companies he said discovered oil in “Nigeria in 1956. The same Western companies discovered oil in commercial quantities in China in 1968, two years later.”
Unlike in China, Jonathan said the oil companies preferred to outsource and import everything needed in the industry, leaving the host communities with nothing to show for the oil in their domain.
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He declared; “if they needed even a valve, Shell, then, was going back to their base in Netherlands, Chevron would then go back to import it from its base in America, and Agip too was going back to Italy.”
Jonathan, who was honoured with the Nigerian Content Lifetime Achievement Award, recalled how he was eager to sign the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content bill into an Act in 2021, saying the bill was sponsored by Senator Lee Maeba of Rivers State and others.
According to him, a Ugandan once told him how he developed skills before signing an agreement with international oil companies to avoid the mistakes made by Nigeria.
“I brought up this story because I used to tell people that if at the beginning of the oil discovery we had laws designed to protect us, Nigeria would have gone further than this. But we didn’t have those kinds of laws. Of course, the first law that controlled the oil industry was the Mineral Oil Ordinance of 1886, I’m not sure if Nigeria played any role in developing that law.
The second one was the Mineral Oil Ordinance of 1914, when we amalgamated. I don’t know how many Nigerians have any knowledge about petroleum law.
“The one that actually became law that started the oil industry was the Petroleum Act of 1969, which was after the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1956 and after the independence in 1960. The next proposed law was the Petroleum Industry Act that we worked on during my government, but luckily, in 2021, it was passed into law,” he recalled.
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Jonathan said the Local Content Act was passed in April 2010 when the Minister of Petroleum told him there was a private law sponsored by Senator Lee Maeba to promote local content in the oil and gas industry.
Jonathan disclosed that he hurriedly signed the bill after his experience in China.
“What is the story about the Nigerian content, or what’s popularly called the local content? I signed that law in April 2010 because of the experience I had in the Year 2000. Then, I was the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, and I led a trade delegation to China. And because we are from the Niger Delta, an oil-producing area, we decided to visit some of the oil cities. And we visited what the Chinese call the oil capital, Daqing. They took us through their library, through their museum. They told us stories from the beginning of the mining activities up to that time.
“Remember that the Western companies discovered oil in commercial quantities in Nigeria in 1956. The same Western companies discovered oil in commercial quantities in China in 1968, two years later. But as of 2000, most of the needs of the oil industry in China were manufactured locally. But in Nigeria, if any company needs a valve, they must go to their home country. If they need anything, they must go.
“So, if the companies say they are investing $1bn or $500m in a project in a state, then you ask yourself, what percentage of that money really goes to impact the local economy, and you see nothing because nothing is being produced here. In Nigeria, most of the people are labourers. Maybe about $50m will be spent here. Every other thing is spent outside,” he stated.
Jonathan commended the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, for ensuring the local content law is being implemented effectively.
He also gave credit to the Senator Lee Maebaand other Senators of the national Assembly that passed the local content bill into law.
‘It was not a National Assembly of Voice Votes,’ he said, “Two Third of Lawmakers Passed Nigerian Content Law When National Assembly was Vibrant.”
Champions of Nigerian Content Awards Winners
Former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has received the Nigerian Content Lifetime Achievement Award at the maiden edition of the inaugural Champions of Nigerian Content Award ceremony organized by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in partnership with Sweetcrude Ltd on Wednesday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The award recognized and rewarded individuals and corporate bodies that set the highest standards in deepening local participation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry and contributed significantly to national development.
Another top winner in the distinguished individuals category was Engr. Tony Attah, Managing Director of Renaissance Africa Energy Limited, as “Nigerian Content Icon of the Year. The award was for his time as the Managing Director of Nigeria LNG Limited, during which time he secured the Final Investment Decision (FID) for NLNG Train 7 project and led his organization to partner with NCDMB to sign the first Service Level Agreement (SLA) which Nigeria LNG in June 2017.
Other top winners include Professor Emenike Ejiogu of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN), as “Nigerian Content Innovator of the Year,” and Ms. Iroghama Ogbeifun, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Starzs Investments Company Limited received the women in leadership award.
In the corporate category, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), now known as Renaissance Africa Energy Limited, clinched the “Nigerian Content International Upstream Operator of the Year Award,” while Aradel won the “Nigerian Content Independent Upstream Operator of the Year Award.”
Other winners in the corporate category were Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited as “Nigerian Content Midstream Operator of the Year”; Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited as “Nigerian Content Downstream Operator of the Year”; Dorman Long Engineering Company Limited as “Nigerian Content Indigenous Service Company of the Year,”and Technip FMC as “Nigerian Content International Service Company of the Year.”
On the winners list also were Bank of Industry (BOI) as “Nigerian Content Financial Services Provider of the Year” and Thisday Newspapers as “Nigerian Content Media Organisationof the Year.”
Speaking on the selection criteria, a member of the Award Advisory Committee, Mr. Wole Akinyosoye, former Operations Controller with the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said measurable metrics were used to determine the winners. According to him, “Awardees must have demonstrated operational consistency where applicable; must have contributed to enhanced utilization and monetization of gas resources as applicable, and must have improved on local refining where applicable in terms of capacity and energy security.”
Continuing, he said, they “must also have strictly complied with the Act and other statutory Nigerian Content requirements, and must have made significant footprint in job creation and local sourcing.”
On the composition of the Advisory Committee for the Award, he pointed out that the pioneer Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Ernest Nwapa, was the Chairman, while the Secretary-General of the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPO), Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, and he (Wole Akinyosoye) were members.
The “Champions of Nigerian Content Awards” held on the sideline of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) 2025.
Platforms Africa
