From the left Chief Anthony George-Ikoli (SAN), Mingi Edmund Dakoru, Chairman NLNG, Lenin Ugoji incoming Group MD C & I Leasing Plc and Vikas Kshirasagar, Country Manager of OCSISNL ( a subsidiary of C & I Leasing Plc).

The Amanayabo of Nembe Kingdom, and Chairman, Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) and Bonny Gas Transport Limited (BGT), Mingi Edmund Dakoru has expressed confidence in the ability of Nigerian local content companies to take over from International Oil Companies that have expressed their intention to leave the country.

Last year, Royal Dutch Shell announced its plan to offload onshore Nigerian oil assets in a bid to move to cleaner energy.

It said it was discussing with the federal government to sell its onshore oil assets in the country. Also, Seplat Energy a few weeks ago announced it had entered into a contract with ExxonMobil, to buy Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited’s entire oil assets in Nigeria. That includes all of Exxon’s entire shallow water assets in the Niger Delta.

But Mingi Dakoru said much as it is regrettable that the IOCs are leaving Nigeria, the Nigerian Local Content Act which was passed into law in 2010 has assisted local industries to improve their management capacity tremendously to the extent that many can boast of maintaining international standards in both oil and gas production and industry services.

King Dakoru said this while welcoming the new Group Managing Director, C & I Leasing Plc, Mr Lenin Ugoji and members of his team into the Palace. C &I Leasing Plc is a partner to NLNG, particularly in the area of provision of operationally leased vessels.

C&I Leasing Group PLC is a Nigerian public limited logistics & maritime company. It was established in 1990 as a private company and was converted into a public company listed on the Nigerian stock exchange in 1997. Over the years the company has registered itself in the provision of international standard services, a good example of what the Nigerian Content Act has achieved.

The C & I Leasing Marine Unit provides a range of both onshore and offshore services to take advantage of the opportunities in the Nigerian Local Content laws. It owns, charters and operates specialised Vessels on a contractual basis from short to long term for its numerous clients.  It primarily Operates self-owned and also charters offshore vessels and security patrol ships, Tigs, Line Handlers and Crew Boats operating in the Gulf of Guinea and Bonny river delta. The company employs about 7,500 people across the Country and operates out of seven local and international offices located in; Port Harcourt, Benin, Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates. Its Ghana Operations are through its subsidiary Leasafric Ghana Limited and in the United Arab Emirates through its subsidiary Epic International FZE.

King Dakoru, a former Minister of Petroleum during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo regime, said he believes that the Local Content Act so far has been a success. He, therefore, called on Nigerian companies to do more training and research so that they could compete favourably all over the world.

In his response, Mr Ugoji expressed the company’s gratitude for the warm welcome the king accorded his team. Ugoji, who became the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of the company on January 1, 2022, told the monarch he is desirous of extending the areas of partnership with the NLNG for mutual benefits of both organizations and Nigeria at large.