Simbi Wabote-led NCDMB holds Capacity Building workshop for Media Stakeholders, declares that 275 oil companies violated local content law
The $300 billion oil industry capital flights suffered by Nigeria before the advent of Local Content implementation has been reduced by 42 percent.
Platforms Africa reports that the General Manager, Research, Statistics & Development, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Abdulmalik Halilu, said this in Lagos during a Capacity Building Workshop for Media Stakeholders.
Data compiled exclusively by Platforms Africa shows that 42 per cent of $300 billion is $126 billion.
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The Board, according to Halilu, has is aware that there is a lot of values that will be extracted when research and development (R&D) is well funded. “This includes job creation and innovation which will help Nigeria to domicile and domesticate most of the activities in the oil and gas industry,” he said.
Stating that the Engineer Simbi Wabote-led NCDMB has already set a 70 per cent local content target by 2027, Halilu mainrained that already, the board has achieved 42 per cent since inception.
“There was a $300 billion capital flights in the Nigeria’s oil and gas industry before the advent of local content and now, this has been reduced by 42 per cent,” he said.
Halilu pointed out that the Board has established Research and Development Council to thrive the initiative. “There is a research and development fund to support relevant applied research in the oil and gas industry and NCDMB is adopting tripled modules which a collaboration between government, academia and industry as one of the best ways to drive research and development,” he said.
Giving his perspective on NCDMB 11 years of Monitoring & Evaluating Nigerian Content implementation, Mr. Dan Esueme Kikile, Manager, Capacity Building, Monitoring Directorate, said that when the Board was created in 2010, Nigeria Content level was less than 5% and due to consistent monitoring and development of local capacities the Board has since grown Content capacity to 42% in 2021.
“This is a significant progress when compared from the NCDMB inception,” he said while fielding questions from Platforms Africa.
The Board, according to Kikile, has observed in the past 11 years that there are abundant personnel with expertise in different fields to man positions in the oil and gas industry, which were previously occupied by foreigners.
“There are diverse abundant opportunities in the oil and gas industry in the Act where Nigerians can derive value in hydrocarbon resources,” he said,
275 oil companies, he continued, have been identified to have been non-conpliant with the content law; 73 companies have registered as operators; 7,075 service companies, and 224,872 individuals have registered in Nigeria through the NCDMB JQS platform.
Speaking at the Workshop, Manager, Corporate Communications, Barrister Naboth Onyesor, said that the essence of the workshop was to promote collaboration with media practitioners and critical stakeholders in the implementation of Nigerian Content and to use the forum as opportunity to support media partners to develop their skills in the profession.
Seasoned professionals and resource persons like the former Editor of PUNCH and former commissioner for information and strategy in Lagos, Steve Ayorinde, and Professor Diri Teilanyo of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Federal University, Otuoke in Bayelsa State, also attended the workshop where they share knowledge with media practitioners on how to up their games and be successful media men.
