NCDMB Set To Establish $50m Manufacturing Fund For Oil Industry

0
NCDMB Set To Establish $50m Manufacturing Fund For Oil Industry
NCDMB Set To Establish $50m Manufacturing Fund For Oil Industry

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has received approval to establish a $50 million fund for the manufacturing product line of Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks (NOGAPS).

 

 

The fund would be dedicated to companies that would operate in Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks and manufacture equipment components used in the oil and gas industry as well as linkage sectors.

 

 

Engr Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, disclosed this at the weekend commissioning of Catobi Nigeria Enterprises Limited’s ultra-modern valves assembling facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

 

According to him, the fund would assist oil and gas companies that would operate in the Board’s oil and gas parks in Bayelsa and Cross River States.

 

 

The parks, which are expected to be commissioned and operational in the fourth quarter of 2022, will incubate the manufacturing of equipment components used in the oil and gas industry, creating an estimated 2000 jobs in each.

 

 

“On Thursday, the Board’s Governing Council approved an additional $50 million product in the Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund to support in-country manufacturing of components within the industrial parks currently being developed by the Board in Bayelsa and Cross River States,” he said.

 

According to the Executive Secretary, NCDMB understands the challenges associated with manufacturing, particularly banks’ reluctance to extend loans to manufacturers due to the long repayment period for such facilities.

 

 

He revealed that the NOGAPS Manufacturing fund, which will be managed by the Bank of Industry (BoI), will be launched soon to address the identified challenges.