Energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi has called for a deliberate and uncompromising commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s local capacity in the oil and gas sector, warning that without it, the country risks perpetually depending on foreign expertise.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday on the need to deepen local content under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Sowunmi stressed that indigenous players must be intentionally empowered to compete and grow alongside foreign operators.
Drawing parallels with Norway, Sowunmi noted that the European oil-producing nation, which now produces over two million barrels per day, began its oil journey in the early 1970s without indigenous capacity. According to him, Norway deliberately partnered with experienced American and British firms operating in the North Sea, while ensuring strong local participation. Over time, that approach helped build a globally competitive domestic energy industry.
He said, “Local players must be allowed to play. As of today in Norway, which is also an oil producing country by the way, they produce over two million barrels per day, which is slightly more than what we produce. When they started oil production, which was after us in the early 70s, there was no capacity within the Norwegian energy environment for development of oil and today they are competing.
“Now, what has happened is the same principle of promoting local content. They engaged Americans at the time, they engaged the British people who had experience within the North Sea and they ensured that there was local content participation. The truth be told that if we do not have a dedicated stubborn focus for local capacity, nobody else would do it. Today, we talk about the gas master plan. However, the gas master plan was a stubborn idea that Nigeria has internal market and that internal market should be exploited so that gas prices externally do not cause us to suffer.
“Now, we have not gotten to that stage, but one of the things that has happened is that we have a lot of industries that are gas based and those industries for the first time have given us the opportunity to have even development and in fact, one of the things that are coming with the gas master plan is the very idea that you can have an industry in every local government supporting local capacity. When that actually happens, it means that rural urban migration will be a thing of the past and it means that only people who really need to come to the cities will come to the cities. Those things are impossible without local content. Those things are impossible without developing the capacity of local companies.”
Melissa Enoch
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