By Energy Worth
THE Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote has urged investors in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to get listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE in order to attract adequate funds required to grow their businesses.
Speaking at the closing gong ceremony at NSE, Lagos recently, Wabote said that indigenous companies and their service counterparts would also benefit from the corporate governance principles demanded from businesses that float their shares on the Exchange.
He stated that listing on the stock market would also change the operating model of the oil and gas industry and enable the pooling of funds for growth, empowerment and inclusion of Nigerians in the activities of the sector, he remarked. The Executive Secretary noted that oil and gas companies currently listed on the NSE were majorly downstream players and harped on the need for upstream and midstream concerns to also go public.
He stated, “We see opportunity to collaborate with the Nigerian Stock Exchange to increase the depth and breadth of listings using our 10-year strategy as a driver. For us in the Board, we have commenced multiple strategic initiatives to bring the roadmap into fruition.”
He said that the NCDMB took 30 percent equity in a 5,000 barrels per day modular refinery in order to enable the government refine at least 10 percent of the nation’s oil output, using modular refineries. Wabote added, “We see opportunity to divest such equity via the Nigerian Stock Exchange so that Nigerians and other investors can be part owners of such enterprises.”
The Executive Director, Regulations, NSE, Ms. Tinuade Awe who represented the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oscar Onyema at the event and commended NCDMB for the remarkable achievements it had recorded in the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act in the oil and gas industry.
