By David Owei, Bayelsa
Oil and gas service providers across Africa have formed a continental forum known as the African Local Content Organisation (ALCO), with the goal of collaborating among themselves to deliver complex projects, creating and retaining value in the multibillion dollar African energy sector and growing the economy.
The organisation was unveiled on Wednesday, Day 2 of the 2025 Namibia Oil and Gas Conference, at Windhoek, Namibia. Membership is open to national associations of service providers in the oil and gas and mining sectors across the African continent.

Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and member of NCDMB Governing Council, Mr. Wole Ogunsanya introduced the organisation and explained that the body would serve as the private sector arm of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation, (APPO), which comprises African governments engaged in oil and gas operations.
He underscored the pivotal and complimentary roles the private sector plays in building African local content, particularly in the development of competent human capacities, deployment of technologies and equipment, mobilization of private capital, and execution of projects.
He said the organisation would be launched officially at the 2026 African Union (AU) conference, in view of its strategic importance to continent’s economy.
Key to the group’s plan is to institute close partnership with APPO and the African Energy Bank (AEB). The Bank was recently set up by APPO to fund big ticket energy projects across the continent and bridge the funding gap impeding the development of key energy projects.

Members of the group, Ogunsanya said, are well positioned to execute key scopes of the projects that would be financed by the Energy Bank. This would guarantee value and spend retention in the continent, helping to catalyze the economy.

Other key objectives of the forum include facilitating exchange of knowledge and capacities among African energy service companies, enabling collaboration on projects, and growing Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The PETAN Chair added: ”through the forum we can carry out benchmark studies, join forces to solve industry problems. It is also a forum where African energy service companies can link up and find partners across the continent. It would enable the exchange of equipment and partnership on major industry projects. As Namibia or any other African country develops energy projects, you can count on your African brothers to share our over 70 years knowledge and experience in the oil and gas industry.”

14 African countries have already joined the organisation, he said, including Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo. The PETAN chairman is serving as the interim chair of the African Local Content Organisation, while Ibrahim Talla from Senegal is the Secretary,

The new organisation has received endorsement from the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who described it a key platform for advancing African local content. Represented at the Namibian event by the Director, Corporate Services, Dr. Abdulmalik Halilu, the NCDMB boss referenced the vital roles the Board played in the establishment of the African Energy Bank, assuring that it would continue to promote African local content and extend every possible assistance to the ALCO.

By David Owei,Bayelsa

The Community Development Committee (CDC), Chairman of Elebele Community in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has charged the management of an oil firm, Renaissance Africa Energy Nigeria Ltd to up its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with its host Communities.

He gave the charge while speaking with newsmen yesterday during a fact-finding tour to a select host communities of the firm.

Okala who doubles as the Action Committee Chairman on the Restoration of electricity to host communities of the Kolo Creek oil field described the firm as an old wine in new bottle, saying the firm is dealing with the communities with the same principles and modus operandi like the SPDC.

He alleged that the firm was not putting enough efforts towards reciprocating the kind gestures extended to her by host communities of the area, saying that Renaissance has not responded responsibly to the yearnings of the communities after series of meetings they have had upon taking over of the onshore assets of the SPDC.

He said: “Renaissance has stuck to the same style and patterns the SPDC used in their dealings with Communities of the Kolo Creek oil field. Till date we’ve not seen any meaningful engagement with this firm as host communities.

“We can describe Renaissance as an old wine in a new bottle, because it’s the same management and same staff that were with the SPDC that are still with Renaissance. They had meetings with us and even as we speak we’ve not seen them implementing any of the decisions reached collectively.

“However, because the name is new in this area we’re patiently giving them some time so that we won’t be accused of over reacting and impatience”.

” I don’t want to conclude that we’re not in good relationship with Renaissance, but the truth is that almost all the communities where Renaissance is operating that I know are complaining of poor relationship with this firm”.

By David Owei,Bayelsa
The Niger Delta Progressive Alliance (NDPA) has urged the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to ignore the call by the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI), to terminate the contract for the repair Trans-Forcados pipeine awarded to Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL).

The group urged the Federal Government to stand firm against any pressure, motivated by ethnic bias, to revoke contracts awarded on the basis of due process, technical capacity and strategic fit.

A press statement signed by Amb Nse Victor Udoh, President General, and Felix Ejenavi (General Beni), Delta State Coordinator of the Niger Delta Progressive Alliance (NDPA), described as inflammatory the statement credited to the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI), in which they called for the abrupt revocation of a pipeline repair contract duly awarded to Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL).

NPDA argued that PINL is a professionally accredited infrastructure firm associated with His Majesty, the revered Olu of Warri, for essential repair works on the Trans-Forcados pipeline in Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State and has all the required capacity and competence to execute the contract.

*Professional Merit and Institutional Legitimacy*

“PINL is a registered and qualified infrastructure company with verifiable record of delivering high-risk oil and gas projects across multiple states in the Niger Delta”, the group said adding, “It is a company with deep roots spanning some of the most challenging terrains in the oil-producing corridors of this country.

“PINL was not selected for this contract because of name or title or as an echo of tribal favour, but because of its quiet pedigree defined by access to technical equipment, proven capacity, operational experience, and adherence to global standards”.

The group added that the company’s contributions extend beyond repairs, to securing the Eastern Corridor, which has led to a sharp reduction in pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, contributing significantly to increased national oil production and revenue.

These gains have also improved livelihoods, stabilized the oil market, and reduced environmental degradation caused by illegal tapping”, they said.

In addition, PINL has meaningfully engaged local communities through the employment of over 30,000 Niger Deltans under its surveillance contract. It has also invested in education and empowerment through skills acquisition programmes and scholarship initiatives for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

*Environmental Stewardship and Moral Responsibility: When Protest Endangers Paradise*

The NPDA noted that those opposing the pipeline repair seemed to quickly forget the grave environmental risk their protest represented explaining that crude oil spill, should it occur, does not respect tribe or boundary. “It poisons the soil, erodes farmland, destroys the water and aquatic life, and jeopardizes the health and future of entire generations. “To stand in the way of a swift and competent repair effort is to knowingly extend an invitation to disaster into one’s community. It is a monumental disservice not only to the people but to their children and the ecosystems on which they depend”.

*Of Ijaw and Itsekiri Relations: Toward a Higher Horizon*

According to the NPDA, the Niger Delta is a synchrony of proud tribes consisting of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Ogoni, and others; It warned that to invoke ancient divisions as a pretext for contemporary disruption is to re-open wounds that development has barely begun to suture. “We therefore call on IPDI and other regional groups to reject the politics of agitation and embrace collaboration that champions common interests and collective advancement. Dialogue, transparency, and cooperation remain our best paths forward. Let us stop building fences where we should be laying foundations”.

*A Call to the Federal Government and the NNPCL*

Udoh, President General, of NPDA said Governance must be guided by principle, not provocation. As such, contracts should not be revoked in response to reactionary pressure. To do so would set a calamitous precedent, eroding trust, emboldening parochial interests, and set a hazardous precedent that risks plunging the Niger Delta back into unrest.

Furthermore, security agencies must remain vigilant in guarding against attempts to disrupt critical infrastructure under any guise and to ensure that peace is preserved across all operational zones.

*On the Recklessness of Threatened Disruption*

“We find it deeply regrettable that certain groups are threatening to inflame young people toward the obstruction of critical infrastructure. Such incitement is not activism; it is an invitation to anarchy” he stated

He stressed that the Niger Delta deserved better than a future written in the language of sabotage. “We categorically condemn any of such that may arise in the name of tribal defence. For such actions, if allowed to persist, will not only endanger the region’s economy but could invite security interventions with far-reaching consequences”.

“As such, to attempt to demonize and reframe this technical decision as a tribal affront is intellectually dishonest, short-sighted and counterproductive. If one must oppose such an enterprise, let it be on evidence of failure, not on the grounds of discomfort. It is thus imperative that we rise above this reflex and collectively reject the idea that development in this region must always be filtered through the lens of identity politics. Let merit and excellence breathe again. Our people deserve nothing less”, Udoh stated.