NCDMB gets $30m interest from intervention fund
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board has disclosed that the $300m intervention fund deposited with the Bank of Industry has yielded a $30m interest from loans given to 70 oil and gas investors.
According to a release from the board on Tuesday, it plans to introduce some changes that will enhance the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund and increase the fund’s impact and efficiency.
The Nigerian Content Intervention Fund is a portion of the Nigerian Content Development Fund, which was set up by Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.
The NCDF is contributed by a one per cent deduction from every contract awarded in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Recently, the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lopkobiri, said the NCDMB under the watch of its former Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, took about $350m to the Bank of Industry to give loans to investors, alleging that the fund was mismanaged with 90 per cent non-performing loans.
However, the board stated, “The NCDMB had deposited $300m with the BoI, which had loaned out $330m to 70 qualified oil and gas companies. The additional $30m accrued from interests from the loans, according to records provided to the board.
“The NCI Fund is the most successful fund scheme in the country, considering the faithful repayment by the beneficiaries and the growth of the fund. The Bank of Industry carries out quarterly project monitoring on the loan beneficiaries, while the NCDMB holds an annual monitoring review on the fund scheme and beneficiaries.”
During the quarterly engagement forum held with the Bank of Industry in Lagos on Monday, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, confirmed that the NCI Fund has, since its inception, played a crucial role in transforming the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Ogbe stated that by providing essential financial support, the fund had empowered numerous Nigerian companies and fostered local capacity development while promoting sustainable growth.
He indicated that the NCI Fund had been instrumental in driving and deepening local content development within the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.
The fund, he added, had also supported numerous projects, building capacities along the local value chain and fostering growth among Nigerian companies.
Ogbe further informed that the board was pursuing continuous improvement and innovation.
“We will be proposing several strategic changes that will further enhance the impact and efficiency of the NCI Fund,” he stated.
