Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru,(2nd right) flagged by other delegates during the unveiling of NNPC Magazine on the sideline of the ongoing 2018 OTC Conference at the exhibition stand of Nigeria.
BY NKECHI NAECHE—-(HOUSTON TEXAS) The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,(NNPC), Maikanti Baru, has applauded the the turnout of Nigerians and its companies to the 2018 Offshore Technology Conference.
The GMD who spoke on the sideline of the conference while visiting the exhibition stand of Nigeria said that the attendance of Nigerians is much better when compared to the 90s when it used to be jamboree,
According to him Nigeria have made a lot of progress when compared to the 90s and the turnout of companies and delegates are very encouraging.
He said: “When we started pushing for local content in the early 90s the drive was to see Nigeria retain value within the country. This am happy to see today that we are not only seizing the opportunity to give service and commission agents but to participate in works that are high tech.
“Some of the exhibition stands I visited today gladdens my heart because I have seen companies going out of Nigeria offering service to other petroleum countries. We have companies manufacturing high tech equipment and have exported to countries like Norway, and some African countries etc. To me, am a fulfilled man today because OTC has yielded fruits.
He said ” In the late 90s what we saw was Nigerians coming to look and shop around for possible partners and even been looked down upon by some participants, But today our stand is much visible and is made up of various Nigeria service providers in the area of safety, Offshore etc all together displaying their various skills for people to buy and patronize.
He however challenged other service providers in Nigeria to look beyond Nigeria and start exporting their services to the Gulf of Mexico and other oil producing countries because their service is world class.
On the part of the corporation, he said NNPC is transforming the corporation to energy company of the future and will also push out its service with time to west Africa and gradually proceeds to the world.
Nigeria companies are among the over 2,000 companies from around the world showing casing its services at the conference.
