AOW:Energy and Local Content Leadership Dialogue

Conversations That Shape Africa’s Energy Future

Local Content as the Engine of Shared Prosperity: A Dialogue with Dr. Obinna Ezeobi PhD, NCDMB & Paul Sinclair, CEO AOW:Energy

Africa’s energy future is being shaped not only by geology and capital, but increasingly by people, policy, and the collective ability to build local capacity that can sustain a new era of prosperity. Few leaders embody this mission more profoundly than Dr. Obinna Ezeobi PhD of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), whose work continues to redefine what African-driven value creation can achieve.

As AOW:Energy prepares for an even more impactful 2026 edition, we sat down with Dr. Obinna Ezeobi for a Leadership Dialogue that reflects on a remarkable year of partnership, progress, and continental collaboration.

Before diving in, let me begin by congratulating Dr. Obinna on the extraordinary success of his recent book, “Nigeria’s Local Content.” The publication, now receiving substantial reviews and uptake across policy circles, academic institutions, and industry strategists, is quickly becoming a reference point for understanding African local content architecture, communication, and implementation. Its relevance could not be more timely and we lean into the book and its content to truly understand Dr. Obinna and how we can achieve our local content goals in years to come.

So Lets Reflect on 2025: A Landmark Year for African Content, for NCDMB and for the relationship between NCDMB and AOW surrounding Pan African shared prosperity, shared equity and prosperity via local content and oil and gas

The partnership between NCDMB and AOW:Energy in 2025 delivered one of the most meaningful milestones in Africa’s drive toward shared prosperity, the launch of the Africa Content Forum which was highly anticipated, well delivered and extremely well attended.

For the first time, AOW:Energy and NCDMB created a global platform with continental objectives at the centre of what we achieved, a platform united policymakers, regulators, service companies, operators, financiers, and development institutions to align on a common mission:

We are all aligned and agree Africa should, must and will develop its natural resources, we are all on the same page and we wont stop as a region for this, but we want to go further, beyond advocacy for upstream development which we are all aligned on, and onto driving  active participation and ownership across the full value chain. Our vision is to ensure our regional and domestic private sectors are owning and driving considerable ownership in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. But it cant stop here, we are working to ensure the African service industries is active in every element of the sector and driving equitable and inclusive growth for all 54 economies of the continent. We believe in the development of our natural resources, but we believe even more strongly that accelerated value is unlocked through African participation, value addition, and ownership. Together, we can create the value on the continent we want.

So lets look back on the conversations, roadmaps and recommendations AOW:Energy and NCDMB created as a result of the 2025 partnership in Accra. The conversations held throughout the 2025 Forum reflected this vision:

• Regional Local Content Leaders Delivering the Opening Blueprint

The opening keynote set a compelling tone, led by senior NCDMB leadership, laying out a practical, pan-African vision for advancing local content beyond national borders. The discussions emphasised shared challenges, common opportunities, and the value of drawing from Nigeria’s world-renowned local content model.

• Local-to-Continental Policy Alignment

This session underlined the urgency of coordinated policy: from cross-border trade to regional service capacity, it showed a clear appetite for harmonisation that can lift African competitiveness as a whole.

• Driving Development from Within

Perhaps one of the most vibrant debates, this session spotlighted the rise of African-led engineering, seismic expertise, consulting, fabrication, and field services. The message was bold: Driving African capacity, scale, prioritisation, and platforms for African companies to lead.

• Strengthening Regional Collaboration

Delegates explored how shared infrastructure, integrated development zones, and aligned regulatory frameworks could unlock cross-border value and reduce duplication. Knowledge exchange, data-sharing, and basin-level cooperation emerged as transformative pathways.

• Unlocking Affordable & Sustainable Funding

The final session tackled Africa’s greatest barrier: access to affordable capital. The discussion explored innovative financing models that align African growth with global energy transition realities. Through these sessions, 2025 established a proof of concept: Africa needs a unified platform where local content strategy becomes continental economic policy.

A Leadership Dialogue: Paul Sinclair & Dr. Obinna Ezeobi PhD

Paul Sinclair:

Dr. Obinna, the 2025 Africa Content Forum was a breakthrough. As one of its architects, what stood out most to you about what we collectively achieved?

Dr. Obinna Ezeobi PhD:

The Forum demonstrated something we have long believed at NCDMB, that Africa’s potential multiplies when we collaborate, align and learn from proven models such as the Nigerian Content Act and drive together with a single shared vision of shared growth. The Forum showed that local content is in fact a social investment strategy and one that should be front and centre of every conversation we have across not only oil and gas, but all sectors to advance value addition, local participation and Pan African growth. This is something I believe in and something that is a passion of Paul Sinclair at AOW:Energy, a big contributing factor as to why we wanted to work with AOW:Energy on this amazing event and Forum

The strong engagement from regulators, service companies, and policymakers was unprecedented at AOW 2025. It really reaffirmed that there is a move from policy makers and industry to prioritise indigenous participation, develop their talent, and retain value. This is how we shift from raw resource extraction to shared prosperity. And I believe the Forum laid the foundation for a new era of cross-border cooperation.

A United Continental Mission developed from a Pan African perspective.

It is clear from both Dr.  Obinna and Mr Sinclair that the next phase of Africa’s energy evolution requires unity and strong policy to drive value creation, industrialisation and beneficiation.

President Obasanjo’s long-standing call to “create our own value, manufacture our own goods, and reduce dependence on imports” formed a powerful backdrop to this conversation. His vision resonated through every discussion. Throughout the interview it was clear that both NCDMB and AOW had a drive and passion for African growth and prosperity closely aligned and fired up ready to develop the next wave of African service providers.

Africa must become the engine room of its own prosperity.

Dr. Obinna noted that initiatives such as the NOGICD Act remain pace-setters, offering a legal and commercial framework that can be adapted across the continent. They prove that practical policy can drive industrial transformation and create a ripple effect that benefits society as a whole. As we look forward to 2026 we see an exciting time ahead for AOW and NCDMB, a clear goal and objective and the regional leadership behind the Africa Local Content Forum. We have an established proof of concept and a platform for trust to engage fully on Local Content nd capacity issues, and to build recommendations and aligned regional policy for the region to prosper. We are convening to move the needle on African prosperity and capacity and in partnership NCDMB and AOW will achieve this result in 2026, and incremental success for our continent years into the future.

As Paul and Dr. Obinna looked ahead to 2026, the message was clear, The next Africa Content Forum must move from insight to action. 2026 will be the year of:

• The signing of new Local Content Roadmaps
• Policy recommendations to Regulators and NOCs regarding the establishment of strong local content to advance local participation
• Implementation frameworks that policy makers align on, and to develop new funding streams for the development of local service industries
• Capacity-building strategies to develop the next wave of leadership
• Development pathways for African service companies
• Workforce development initiatives

Where 2025 established the vision, 2026 will deliver the blueprint. AOW:Energy 2026 will put local content and pan-African prosperity at the heart of the event. Our mission at NCDMB and AOW is to raise regional competitiveness, unlock local value, and empower the next generation of African companies and talent.

A Landmark Gathering: AOW:Energy 2026 — September 1–3, Accra

As the Dialogue closed, Paul praised Dr. Obinna’s leadership, vision and scholarship. His book “Nigeria’s Local Content” is already influencing policy thinking across Africa and elevating the conversation around local participation in ways that will shape the next decade. Dr. Obinna stands today as one of the continent’s leading voices in local content strategy, a trailblazer whose work has become essential reading for governments, investors and industry executives alike for the future success of our continent. This passion is reflected in Paul Sinclair’s passion for African growth and the development of AOW as an agent for positive change for our continent and people.

AOW:Energy looks forward to welcoming him back in Accra, September 1–3, 2026, as we continue this shared journey to build a stronger, more united and prosperous African energy sector.