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Regrettably,
despite these huge sums of money spent in servicing the industry, only a very
little proportion of the accrue-able profit is spent in Nigeria. Majority of the
amounts are repatriated abroad, where most of the equipment is manufactured;
and providing employment opportunities for citizens of other countries.
The major reason
for this situation has been attributed to low local content (LC), which is a
situation where most of the service contracts are awarded to foreign firms because
local indigenous firms lack the requisite skills, technical expertise, manpower
and production capacity and capability to compete favorably.
The passage and
assent of the Nigerian Local Content Policy is an expression of the desire of
the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that companies owned by Nigerians
actively participate not only in the oil and gas trade of Nigeria but in all
technical aspects of the Nigerian economy.
The entire
essence of the new law is to increase indigenous participation in the oil and
gas industry by prescribing minimum thresholds for the use of local services
and materials and to promote the employment of Nigerian staff in the Industry.
Along with the
Cabotage law in the maritime industry, which seeks to restrict the use of
Foreign Vessels in Domestic Coastal trade to promote the development of
indigenous tonnage and to establish a Cabotage vessel financing fund and for
Related Matters, Nigerian investors can better harness the opportunity
available in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria by providing maritime support
services through leasing and rental of vessel, barge and tugboat.
Haulage of crew
and equipment is an essential part of an oil and gas operation which requires
the use of barges, tugboats and vessels.
A Barge is a
flat – bottomed boat built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy
equipment’s. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed or pushed
by towboats. In the oil and gas industry, they are mostly used in swampy
operation for the haulage of crew and equipment.
A tug boat is a
boat that maneuvers vessel by pushing and towing them. They are usually used to
tow barges.
A vessel is a
craft for traveling and transporting goods on water and is usually larger than
boats and barges.
Providing marine
support services in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria is surely a viable
business but the investor needs to be armed with the right information to
succeed in the business.