By Abuja’s Obas Esiedesa
The Federal Government’s Nigerian content policy, according to Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), is not intended to prevent foreign oil firms from participating in the nation’s oil and gas sector.
Lokpobiri gave a speech at the “Energy for Peace and Prosperity: Securing Our Shared Future” pre-conference opening of the 2026 Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.
He said the Nigerian petroleum business is broad enough to accommodate both indigenous and foreign enterprises, underlining that government policy is focused on improving the capacity of local firms to compete effectively with foreign Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies.
The Minister claims that the Nigerian Content Act has given local businesses financial assistance to boost their competitiveness.
“When I assumed office as Minister, one of the first major issues I encountered concerned the implementation of local content. As someone with an EPC experience, I was often challenged with queries about why project costs in Nigeria were greater than in other countries, even when those projects were executed locally,” he said.
“We found this unacceptable and resolved to address it. Project costs in a nation shouldn’t be more than those in other countries. After a thorough analysis, we found that the problem was mostly caused by the local content policy being applied incorrectly.
Lokpobiri explained that while local enterprises currently lack the competence to independently execute big offshore EPC projects, the solution rests in partnership rather than exclusion.
Nigeria is big enough for EPC corporations and local businesses to work together. Offshore EPC projects still generally fall within the competence of international businesses, and this has occasionally generated monopolistic conditions that constrain competition in pricing,” he said.
He stated that the Governing Council on Local Content has convened important parties to create workable solutions to this problem through a number of engagements, including meetings held in conjunction with significant industry events in Abuja.
“These engagements focused on making project costs globally competitive by encouraging cooperation among EPC companies, petroleum operators and strong indigenous firms,” he added.
Lokpobiri said that offshore operations give significant prospects and that the industry is vast enough for both Nigerian and international enterprises to compete competitively and jointly.
However, he added, “past local content implementation frequently promoted intermediaries rather than genuine capacity development.”
Earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, said gas represents the most immediate, scalable and inclusive road for Nigeria and Africa to achieve economic diversification, industrial growth and shared prosperity.
Gas is still essential to Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan and larger industrial agenda, according to Ekpo, who was represented by Mrs. Patience Oyekunle, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Gas continues to be the mainstay of Nigeria’s industrial strategy and Energy Transition Plan. The gas value chain offers unmatched prospects for job development, industrial clustering, and regional integration, from power generation and clean cooking to fertilizers, petrochemicals, methanol, and compressed natural gas for transportation, he said.
He highlighted, however, that sustaining these prospects needs indigenous enterprises to possess the requisite skills, technology, financing and governance norms to compete at scale.
“Performance-driven local content in the gas sector therefore demands a new compact. The government must give clear, steady and coordinated policy signals that favor capabilities development and long-term investment. As a key value generator, industry operators must incorporate local capacity development into project design. Financial institutions must innovate to de-risk gas projects for indigenous enterprises, while training and research institutes must connect skills development with the demands of a contemporary gas industry,” he stated.
