The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has reminded operators, contractors and service companies in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector of their mandatory obligation to remit the one per cent Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) levy into the bank accounts officially designated by the Board.
In a statement issued in Yenagoa and signed by the Board’s General Manager, Corporate Communications, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, said the levy is a statutory requirement.
Ogbe explained that the NCDF was established under Section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act as a dedicated fund to promote the development of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry.
According to him, the fund is critical to building local capacity, supporting indigenous participation and strengthening value addition within the sector.
The Board has, however, expressed concern that some oil firms, particularly indigenous Nigerian companies that are direct beneficiaries of the levy, have allegedly failed to comply with the remittance requirement.
NCDMB maintained that payment of the one per cent levy is not optional but a legal obligation designed to drive sustainable growth and competitiveness in the industry.
In their reaction, some indigenous operators accused the Board of deploying part of the fund to projects that, in their view, do not directly support the growth of local capacity in the oil and gas sector.
The development underscores growing tension between the regulator and local operators over compliance and transparency in the administration of the NCDF.
