The Federal Government has reaffirmed that Nigeria’s oil and gas industry has sufficient scale and opportunities to support the coexistence and collaboration of both international Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms and indigenous companies, as it moves to reposition local content development as a catalyst for sustainable industrial growth.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made this known on Monday in Abuja while delivering his opening address at the pre-conference session of the 2026 Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES). The event brought together policymakers, industry executives and investors to deliberate on the future of Africa’s energy sector.
The ninth edition of the summit is themed “Energy for Peace and Prosperity: Securing Our Shared Future,” with strong focus on gas-led industrialisation, energy security and the strengthening of local content in the oil and gas value chain.
Lokpobiri noted that for many years, EPC activities in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector were dominated by international oil companies and their foreign contractors, especially in offshore and deepwater operations that require advanced technology, heavy capital investment and specialised expertise. While this arrangement ensured technical efficiency, he said it also led to significant capital flight and limited development of domestic capacity.
To address these challenges, the Federal Government enacted the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act in 2010 to increase indigenous participation, encourage in-country fabrication, promote technology transfer and build local skills. Since then, policy direction has shifted towards a local content-driven framework aimed at retaining value within the Nigerian economy.
However, the minister acknowledged that poor implementation of the local content framework over the years had contributed to higher project costs, reduced competitiveness and slower capacity development than originally envisaged under the law.
According to Lokpobiri, the solution lies in collaboration rather than exclusion. He emphasised that the intent of the local content policy was never to edge out international firms, but to use partnerships to deliberately build strong Nigerian companies capable of competing globally.
“Our space is big enough for both international EPC companies and indigenous firms to cooperate,” he said. “The problem is not the presence of foreign firms, but the lack of competition and capacity building. Where there is monopoly, costs rise and innovation suffers.”
He explained that although local participation has improved in principle, Nigeria still lacks sufficient technical depth to independently execute highly complex offshore and deepwater projects. He attributed this gap to the misapplication of the local content law since its introduction, noting that the focus shifted to creating intermediaries rather than building technically competent indigenous companies.
Reflecting on his role in the National Assembly during the passage of the NOGICD Act, Lokpobiri said the original objective was to foster structured partnerships that would transfer skills and technology to Nigerians.
“The spirit of the Act was to build capacity, not to push EPC companies away,” he said. “Unfortunately, we ended up promoting middlemen instead of developing strong local firms.”
The minister also criticised the use of funding mechanisms under the local content framework, noting that some companies that accessed financing failed to invest in capacity expansion. He said this shortcoming prompted reforms in the governance of the Nigerian Content Development Council, including the decision for the Minister of Petroleum Resources to chair the council to provide stronger strategic oversight.
“Our aim now is to bring everyone together — indigenous companies, local firms and international partners — to ensure real value retention, genuine capacity building and long-term sustainability,” Lokpobiri stated.
He added that meaningful local content development must be anchored on sustained investment in human capital, pointing to ongoing initiatives by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, to deepen skills development and technical expertise within the sector.
