The former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, recently relayed that the country’s local content strategy for the oil and gas industry was inspired by China's success in developing a robust domestic petroleum industry.
The former president made this known at the SweetCrude Dialogue 2026, which was hosted at the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, his hometown, on the passing of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill in 2010 and the progress achieved since its implementation.
During the event, he explained that the initiative came after he visited China while serving as Bayelsa State's deputy governor.
During his China tour, he noticed that almost every part of the Asian country’s oil sector was dependent on locally manufactured equipment, technology, and experience.
He also disclosed that China's petroleum sector was altered by the discovery of the Daqing Oilfield in 1959, just a few years after crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State.
