- At NIES 2026, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri emphasised that strengthening local content is essential for driving Africa’s energy growth.
- They said stronger indigenous capacity is critical to lowering project costs, retaining value and building globally competitive African energy companies.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, have called for stronger local content development across Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The ministers made the call during the Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES 2026) in Abuja. Specifically, they stressed that local content remains critical to Africa’s energy growth and broader economic development.
Lokpobiri described local content as central to Africa’s energy expansion and economic transformation. Accordingly, he said local content must move from policy ambition to practical industrial capacity. Notably, the 2026 summit session focused on “Local Content: Beyond Compliance: Building African Industrial Powerhouses.”
Upon assuming office, Lokpobiri identified high project costs in Nigeria as a major challenge. However, he observed that project delivery in Nigeria often costs more than in other African countries. After further review, he said misapplication of local content requirements contributed to the cost challenge. Therefore, he urged policymakers to prioritise implementation models that support efficiency and competitiveness.
Ekpo explained that local content implementation historically focused on compliance with contract thresholds, labour quotas, and ownership rules. While this increased participation, it did not consistently produce globally competitive indigenous gas companies or strong technology capacity. Consequently, he urged stakeholders to prioritise performance-driven local content across the sector.
He said performance-driven local content should build industrial strength and long-term competitiveness. In practical terms, the gas sector must develop indigenous capacity across engineering, project execution, gas processing, pipeline construction, operations and maintenance, fabrication, LNG and FLNG services, gas-based manufacturing, and downstream utilisation. Ultimately, Nigerian and African companies must become productive, innovative, bankable, and export-ready.
Permanent Secretary Patience Oyekunle described the session theme as timely for Africa’s energy future. In addition, she said Africa must deliberately shape its energy future around capability, competitiveness, and shared prosperity. More broadly, she added that energy serves as a catalyst for stability, industrialisation, inclusive growth, and national security.