Nigeria looks to local skills to develop oil and gas

In January, parliament voted for a bill to reform the oil sector and make it more transparent, nearly two decades after it was first proposed.

The bill still needs the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to become law.

Buhari, who also doubles up as oil minister, has vowed to overhaul the sector as part of his drive to clean up politics and claw back billions of dollars in looted public money.

– Vast inequality –

In Lagos, the fishermen who pass by the Egina every day in their grimy boats can make as little as two dollars a day. It’s a sign of the vast inequality in Lagos.

But private local partners see a chance for change: 3,000 people have already been involved in the Lagos construction phase of Egina.

Ladol, which provides support services to the oil and gas sector and where Egina has been moored, is 100 percent Nigerian.

Its chief executive, Amy Jadesimi, said the vessel’s arrival radically changed the landscape of the industry.

“We now have the biggest crane capacity in the whole of Africa, we have a qualified labour force,” said the 42-year-old former investment banker in London.

“The idea is to host more projects like this one and not only in oil and gas.

“We can fabricate very large silos for agricultural products and now that we can host the largest vessels in the world, they can come and collect the largest amount of domestic products.”

Jadesimi estimated that could generate up to 50,000 jobs.

But the Nigerian government, which gets $1.6 billion a month or 70 percent of its revenue from oil, needs to invest in energy and infrastructure for that to happen.

On the roads leading to the port lorry drivers wait for weeks on end in searing heat just to be able to unload or take delivery of their cargo.