The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has emphasized the need for Africa to be innovative and rely less on foreign funding for hydrocarbon projects
The minister said this during his keynote address at the recently concluded African Local Content Roundtable, according to a statement by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.
He was quoted as saying Africa should “quickly create innovative funding mechanisms for major projects using local resources and break away from the yoke of depending on foreign lenders who are becoming increasingly reluctant to fund hydrocarbon-related projects.”
He implored African oil-producing countries and their oil and gas companies to cooperate closely in developing and sharing capacities and capabilities that would optimise hydrocarbon deposits and achieve economic growth and development.
The maiden edition of the ALCR, hosted by the NCDMB, was graced by the presence of Nigeria’s oil industry stakeholders and other members of the African Petroleum Producers Association.
The NCDMB’s Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, said the ALCR was part of the board’s 10-Year strategic roadmap and would be extending local content across the continent, ensuring access to market for locally developed capacities.
He recommended the creation of an African Local Content Fund to institutionalise funding for the development of oil and gas projects in Africa. He was quoted as saying that the arrangement had become crucial due to the declaration of countries and banks to stop funding hydrocarbon related projects.
“These funds can also be utilized to part-finance infrastructural projects in support of the production of oil and gas products for use by Africans,” he said.
Wabote also said that nations could not develop by staying as consumers of foreign technology, adding, “Local content thrives when there is robust research and development guideline to drive the development of home-grown technology.”
APPO’s Secretary-General, Dr Omar Ibrahim, announced the association’s plans to partner with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and like-minded bodies to demand the renegotiation of the climate change agreement at COP-26 scheduled for November in Scotland.
He said, “Our position is that we have looked at the 2015 COP 21 Climate Change Agreement and we believe that there is a need for some review of some things that our leaders signed on our behalf.Oil is the mainstay of our national economies and we want the life of oil to last as long as possible to enable use the revenue to effectively diversify our economies. We have proven oil reserves of over 100 billion barrels of crude oil in the ground and are still heavily dependent on oil export revenue”.
