ABUJA, July 1 – Nigeria LNG (NLNG) has reiterated the importance of domesticating technology as a central strategy to advance local content development in the country’s oil and gas sector.
Speaking at the NOG Energy Week 2025 in Abuja, Olakunle Osobu, Deputy Managing Director of NLNG, said the localization of technology was essential to empowering Nigerians and building sustainable capacity in the energy industry.
“Our industry is one of the largest consumers of technology,” Osobu said during a panel session titled ‘Technology as a Local Content Imperative: From Adoption to Domestication’. “To thrive in it, we must be precise, predictive, and forward-looking. But beyond using technology, we are committed to simplifying it and promoting its use in formats our people can understand.”
He stressed that genuine technological development must reflect national identity and ownership. “No country has advanced by learning technology in someone else’s language,” he said. “Germans speak German. The Chinese code in Chinese. We must begin to write algorithms in our local languages and build tools that reflect our voice and reality.”
Osobu called for stronger policy alignment to elevate technology as a national development priority. “Domestication must start with inclusion,” he said. “If people can read and write, they should be able to use technology. That’s how we expand access.”
Citing NLNG’s Train 7 project as a model of local content success, Osobu noted that over 90% of the contractors on the project are Nigerians. “We successfully built six trains over the lifetime of NLNG with Nigerian engineers working alongside international experts,” he said. “By the time Train 7 commenced, it was evident that we had the capacity to deliver it ourselves.”
He credited the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for providing institutional support that made the localization of expertise possible.
Highlighting the global demand for Nigerian oil and gas professionals, Osobu said retired Nigerian engineers are sought after in Calgary, Singapore, and other energy hubs. “It’s time for that expertise to shape our continent,” he added. “Countries like Namibia, Senegal, Ghana, Mozambique, and Angola are discovering oil. Nigerians should be the ones helping them build. They no longer need to look to the West.”
He also cited innovations such as the African keyboard, which enables computing in indigenous African languages, as steps toward achieving a unique technological identity for the continent.
Osobu concluded by reaffirming NLNG’s commitment to fostering technology that is inclusive, contextual, and transformative. “As we continue to adopt and promote technology at NLNG, our goal is to ensure this knowledge is rooted in our local context—simple, inclusive, and transformative,” he said.
NLNG is a joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Shell, TotalEnergies, and Eni, and operates one of Africa’s largest gas export terminals in Bonny Island, Rivers State.
