Africa Oil & Gas: Nigeria Launches Fund to Aid Indigenous Firms

In Nigeria, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Bank of Industry (BOI) are joining forces to aid indigenous firms to secure funding. The pair signed a MoU for the implementation of a $200 million fund accessible to qualified indigenous oil and gas companies.

The fund, which is to be lent to the companies under the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund), to be managed by NCDMB, will be disbursed directly by the BOI at single digit interest rate and repaid within five years.

The NCI Fund will help address the challenges faced by indigenous firms in securing capital.

Speaking at the launch of the fund to commence its implementation, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. IbeKachikwu said his ultimate target is for the fund to hit $1 billion soon.

He said that his expectation for the fund is that it must be geographically spread, disbursed to cutting edge innovations and cut across all the sectors in the industry.

The fund was originally launched in July of last year but its implementation was delayed until now. The NCI Fund is sourced from the statutory NCDF which is funded from one percent that is deducted from the value of all upstream contracts.

The NCDF is underpinned by Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, which provides that the funds be used for developing capacity in the oil and gas industry.