Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) at the weekend, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, hosted a visiting team of ranking military officers from the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja, on a local study tour.
At an interactive session, the executive secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, presented a portrait of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in its first 50 years of operation and the highpoints in implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010.
According to him, “the earlier phase was marked by capital flight amounting to an estimated US$380 billion, loss of two million jobs as a result of human capital deficits, and less than five per cent in local content. In sharp contrast is the post-NOGICD Act era which has witnessed phenomenal development of in-country capacity and capabilities as a result of creative enforcement and monitoring of industry operations as well as strategic interventions by the NCDMB. “
The NCDMB boss explained that, local content hit 56 per cent at the end of 2023, which translates into in-country retention of 56 per cent of oil and gas industry yearly spend on operations – a feat that has made the NOGICD Act as well as implementation strategies the model for other oil- and gas-producing countries in Africa. The target for the NCDMB, he pointed out, is 70 per cent in 2027.
With emphasis, he declared that the NCDMB wants to ensure that equipment and tools as well as services required for oil and gas operations are made and procured in Nigeria.
In accounting for the success of the board thus far and the feasibility of its performance targets in capacity development, he said: “We take research and development seriously,” citing the centres of excellence established, equipped and funded by the Board in the six universities, one in the six geopolitical zones of the country.”
The executive secretary, who was represented by the director, Corporate Services and Capacity Building, Dr Ama Ikuru, observed that the Nigerian Army itself has raised the bar in research and development as well as local content, in relation to human capital development and local manufacturing of some components used in military operations.
In his own remarks, the general manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Esueme Dan Kikile, said, the visit of the military officers who are Participants of the Leadership and Strategic Course 3/2024 from the NARC, afforded the Board and guests a useful platform for interaction and knowledge sharing. He urged the guests to ‘tell the success story of the NCDMB’ wherever they find themselves.”
Team leader for the military officers, Major General Abubakar A. Tarfa (rtd), explained that the Local Study Tour was part of an 11-month course and that members of the team were all professionals in diverse fields – engineering, medicine, nursing, and administration, among others.
