The Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Tuesday delivered a landmark judgment confirming the authority of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to collect the one percent Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF), levy from every contract awarded in the Nigerian oil and gas upstream transaction as mandated under section 104 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
The judgment was delivered in the case instituted by a group of Nigerian Drilling Companies known as Incorporated Trustees of the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) against the NCDMB, seeking to stop the collection of one percent NCDF levy.
The IADC members had filed the lawsuit – Suit No.FHC/YNG/CS/178/2022 challenging the powers of NCDMB to demand the one percent NCDF levy from their members and contractors, contrary to the clear provisions of section 104(2) of the NOGICD Act which states that “the sum of one percent of every contract awarded to any operator, contractor, subcontractor, alliance partner or any other entity involved in any project, operation, activity, or transaction in the upstream sector of the Nigeria oil and gas industry shall be deducted at source and paid into the Fund.”
