President John Dramani Mahama’s nomination of the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, for the position of Minister for Lands and Natural Resources is expected to expand local content opportunities in Ghana’s extractive industry.

Mr Buah comes to the sector with a wealth of knowledge and experience in how to create decent and sustainable opportunities for local participation in the extractive industry.

As Energy Minister, he established a strong reputation as a local content champion by providing opportunities for local companies to participate in Ghana’s oil and gas sector.

This has ensured economic opportunities and reliable cash flow for local content providers.

It has also provided many Ghanaians with decent and sustainable jobs.

Mr Buah’s great strides in creating opportunities for local content in the oil and gas sector earned him recognition as the recipient of the Local Content Champion Award in 2015.

Prior to that, about $580 million had been realised by 2014 from his institution of the local content policy.

His local content initiatives ensured that by 2014 more than 150 companies that had registered their operations with the Petroleum Commission were actively providing direct and indirect services to operators in Ghana’s upstream industry.

Mr Buah’s leadership in the oil and gas sector also ensured that four out of every five persons employed in the upstream petroleum sector were Ghanaians.

That translated into 80% of all employment opportunities in the upstream sector being occupied by Ghanaians.

He is credited for playing a key role in the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815, Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation Regulations, 2013, L.I. 2204, the establishment of the Petroleum Commission among others, which have become the bedrock of Ghana’s Petroleum Industry.

In 2021, he was also honoured at the Ghana Ministers of State Excellence Honours for his achievements as a former Minister of Energy and Petroleum. 

Hon. Buah is credited with putting in place key policies like the passage of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act, the development and production of three major oil fields, thus Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa.

These fields have become major sources of government revenue.

All things being equal, he will chart a similar course in his new portfolio to prioritise the interest of the people of Ghana, create local content opportunities and ensure a thriving extractive industry that is mutually beneficial to investors in the sector and the Government of Ghana.