Distinguished audience, colleagues, and partners,

It is a privilege to join leaders of industry and policy today at the Practical Nigerian Content Forum. I commend the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board for sustaining a platform that goes beyond dialogue—it accelerates change, drives competitiveness, and pushes this industry toward global standards. As the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, we value our collaboration with the NCDMB in advancing the reform agenda of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Across Africa, the energy landscape is shifting. Capital is more selective. Project economics face global competition. Investors are demanding speed, reliability, and clarity of execution. In this environment, local content is not a patriotic slogan—it is an industrial strategy. It must unlock value, reduce cost, shorten timelines, and boost national competitiveness. And above all, it must deliver projects at scale.

This is why the Presidency has pushed hard on efficiency and reform. Directives 41 and 42 were deliberately designed to eliminate friction—reducing contracting costs and timelines, cutting out rent-seeking, and shifting the perception of Nigeria from a high-risk jurisdiction to one of the most attractive upstream destinations on the continent. These reforms are already bearing fruit: Nigeria secured three out of the four major FIDs in Africa in 2024—positioning us in the top quartile among 14 global jurisdictions in competitiveness. But let us be clear: seamless project delivery is a shared mandate. Government alone cannot carry this ambition. Nor can operators, financiers, or host communities succeed in isolation. The competitive advantage we seek in Africa and globally requires a coordinated ecosystem of execution.

As we chart the path toward building a resilient, competitive industrial base in Nigeria, let us be intentional—not incidental—about in-country value addition. We must target specific segments where local capacity, skills, and industrial infrastructure can be developed, rather than settling for surface-level or token participation. In doing so, we position our country not just as a resource exporter—but as a hub of production, innovation, jobs, and industrial value.

Equally important, we must acknowledge one of the most powerful symbols of Nigerian content in action: the historic transfer of onshore assets from IOCs to indigenous operators. This transition is more than a corporate reshuffling—it reflects decades of accumulated local capability, technical maturity, and domestic capital formation. Today, Nigerian companies are not only taking over these assets—they are optimizing them, investing in technology, restoring production, and strengthening community and security relationships in ways that were not previously possible. This is Nigerian content at its most tangible expression: Nigerian expertise managing Nigerian assets to deliver Nigerian value. Let us anchor our energy sector not only on resource rents, but on industrial growth, jobs, capacity-building, and generational wealth creation. Together, we must make in-country value addition not a slogan, but a deliberate strategic imperative.

At the Presidential level, our reform model has been anchored in data—benchmarking cost drivers, mapping inefficiencies, and ensuring that local content strengthens rather than constrains investment. We recognize that the true spirit of local content rests on empowering domestic talent, growing Nigerian enterprise, and enabling our service sector—whether in Bayelsa or Lagos—to compete not just locally, but across the continent and beyond.

We have living proof of what happens when policy, ambition, and capability align: from SHI-MCI’s fabrication yards to Waltersmith’s modular refining success; from the NLNG Train 7 project to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, and the expansive growth of Nigerian-owned marine vessels. These are not isolated wins—they are signals of an emerging industrial base capable of powering Africa’s next phase of energy expansion. Since the NOGICD Act was enacted, in-country value retention has grown ten-fold—from 5 percent to 56 percent. And these are more than macro indicators—they are jobs, technology transfer, and new business models. Every fabrication facility, vessel, or modular refinery represents families lifted, capability expanded, and communities integrated into global value chains.

As Nigeria enters a fresh wave of upstream investment—with Shell and TotalEnergies committing to HI, Bonga North, and Ubeta—this is the moment to deepen local capacity and remove the last remaining barriers to speed and execution. We are clear about our national ambition: three million barrels of oil and 10 bscf/day of gas by 2030. To unlock the projects that get us there, regulators must become accelerators, not checkpoints; financing must become more innovative; and the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund must scale its ambition and its impact.

Ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria’s energy trajectory is more secure today than it has been in years. Under President Tinubu’s leadership, we have made difficult decisions and unlocked reforms long overdue. But now is the moment to consolidate momentum—not slow down. Because ultimately, this is not just about upstream performance or investment cycles. It is about building a globally competitive energy economy for Africa. It is about positioning Nigerian companies to serve the continent. It is about transforming natural resources into national prosperity.

We are not merely reshaping processes. We are building a new era of industrialisation, energy expansion, and shared prosperity—powered by local capacity and accelerated by collaboration across the ecosystem. The story of Nigerian content is not finished—it is only beginning.

Thank you.