Witnessing the various projects being undertaken by the fast-growing number of indigenous oil and gas companies in the country might have been an illusion some decades ago. But with the success of the Nigerian local content act, more companies, now key players in the sector, are looking to grow their participation as a result of the growth in their capacity and expertise.
The Nigerian oil and gas space has seen astronomical growth of local players buoyed by the various initiatives of the Federal government and the Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the watchdog, in ensuring that the International Oil Companies (IOC’s) do not impede local capacity development by infringing on any of the local content acts.
The success of the local content policy is why the Nestoil Group is a known name in the Nigerian business environment as its impacts in the sector with record time projects execution and quality of work done are pivotal to the growth of the national economy.
Nestoil, with Group Managing Director/President, Dr. Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi at the helm, before the 2010 Act, had envisaged that a time will come when the various issues militating against local players participation in the oil and gas sector will be addressed. It thus, positioned itself, through sister companies, dubbed Strategic Business Units (SBUs) as demanded by prevailing circumstances, to service end-to-end activities of the sector.
The activities of Nestoil and its subsidiaries like Energy Works Technologies (EWT), IMPaC, B&Q Dredging, HammakoppConsortium, Scorpio Drilling, Neconde Energy, Nesthak, Shipside Drydock, Gobowen E&P, and Century Power Generation Limited – in the energy ecosystem has led observers to call it the local content success story.
The various well-equipped SBU’s, fuelled by the local content act, were created at different fora during the evolution of the oil and gas sector, according to Azudialu-Obiejesi, upon the identification of insightful business opportunities from needs that did not have readily available or sufficient in-country solutions.
On the company’s website, he said the SBUs were initially created to provide for critical needs that arose during Nestoil’sexecution of various pipeline construction projects it got from local and foreign partners. These companies, presently, he enthused have been expanded and have become authorities in their fields.
Through the execution of various projects, the expertise and technical know-how of Nestoil and its staff have greatly improved that it is trusted by IOC’s and local partners to deliver on its mandate, no matter the tough terrain where the projects are located.
Its level of success today can be tied to the determination of its founder, Azudialu – Obiejesi, even before the passage of the Local Content Act, to have business entities that would be wholly Nigerian to compete with the IOCs. The predicator to this was to allow Nigerians to participate and be major players in the sector.