NCDMB earmarks N15bn for local contractors *Reiterated Its Commitment On Youths Capacity Development In Niger Delta

By Inegbagha  Majesty

Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) says it has earmarked N15bn for the revised Community Contractors Financing Scheme to address a critical challenge faced by local contractors, their limited access to funding for contracts awarded by oil and gas companies. 

Engr. Felix Omotsola Ogbe 

 

 

 

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Engr. Felix Omotsola Ogbe who made this known in his keynote address at the opening of the 13th edition of the Practical Nigerian Content Forum in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, also said the board had raised the single obligor limit from N20m to N100m.

“N15bn have been earmarked for this purpose. Also, the single obligor limit has been increased from N20m to N100m,” he stated.

The NCDMB boss also announced the launch of ‘Back to the Creek’, an initiative that focused on equipping youths in host communities with the skills needed to meet industry demands and directly supporting the local content drive.

“This initiative aligns closely with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. This initiative will be implemented in three phases: First, the improvement of primary education infrastructure; next, the enhancement of secondary education; and finally, providing scholarships and facilitating employment opportunities for top-performing students from oil-producing communities,” he explained.

Speaking on the theme of the PNC forum, ’Defining the New Frontier of Nigerian Content Implementation’, the executive secretary explained that the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010, charged the board with a clear mandate to build the capacity of Nigerian companies and individuals to actively participate in the oil and gas industry.

He recalled that in 2017, the board launched a 10-year strategic roadmap built on five strategic pillars and supported by four enablers, saying achievements have been recorded.

According to Ogbe, some of the NCDMB achievements include the unveiling of Amal Technologies in Idu, Abuja and the Kwale Gas Gathering facility in Delta State; getting approval for the 312 Nigerian Content Plans as 402 Nigerian Content Compliance Certificates were issued; uveiling Bell Oil and Gas’ 50,000 metric-tonne integrated Oil Country Tubular Goods facility at the Lekki Free Trade Zone; unveiling of 10,000 MT capacity galvanizing plant by Daewoo; and establishment of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Park Scheme in Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom states among others.

He announced that the Nigerian content level had increased from 26 per cent in 2016 to 56 per cent by 2024.

As part of the commitment to further deepen Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry, he said the board was committing to developing more conducive and befitting zonal offices to aid the deployment of its personnel across various directorates, thereby making the zonal offices fully operational.

“As we embark on the next phase of this journey, let us carry forward the spirit of collaboration and resilience that has brought us this far. In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done.’ Let us show the world what is possible when vision meets action, and commitment meets opportunity,” Ogbe concluded.

The board in 2017 introduced the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund scheme with initial funding of $200m but commenced fully in 2018 and increased to $300m in 2020.

The fund was aimed at boosting the capacity of Nigerian companies in the oil and gas sector.

In another development, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has reiterated its commitment to engaging youths in Bayelsa in capacity-building training in the oil and gas sector.

The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Ogbe disclosed on Wednesday during the 2024 Practical Nigerian Content Forum (PNC) Youth Forum held in Yenagoa.

Ogbe who spoke through the General Manager of Infrastructure and Enterprise Development, NCDMB Capacity Building Directorate, Barr. Olugbenga Sheba, noted that the NCDMB’s primary mandate, as established by the NOGIC Act, was to build capacity and capabilities in the oil and gas sector.

He added that capacity development in the Niger Delta region has remained the mandate that NCDMB has been carrying out since its inception in 2010.

He said, “In the course of doing this, the NCDMB has created a NOGIC portal where youths are encouraged to log in with their credentials, from which they are paid for the necessary training facilities that are available in the industry. The board has been doing a lot in this regard, and a lot of skills are being developed in the course of doing this.

“On several occasions, trainings have been organised and for each programme, each project that has been embarked upon by any of the oil and gas industry, there is what we call human capacity development that is at the back of each project, and these companies are made to engage youths in the course of training at least to acquire certain skills.

“This has always been taking place. The board has been handling this, and a lot of other programmes that will create job opportunities for the youth have also been developed. For instance, the industrial park that the board is building at Emeyal 1, which by the time it becomes operational fully, a lot of youths will be engaged in.

“There is provision for whoever is doing business in the industry from which they could access certain facilities domiciled with the Bank of Industry, and that applies to everybody as long as your business is conducted in the industry.”

The Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, who was represented by the commissioner for youths development, Hon. Alfred Kemepado Nimizigha, called for more collaboration with the NCDMB in the area of information dissemination, adding that the NCDMB can offer a lot that the youths are not aware of.

“One of the things we are doing as state government is to establish the process of needs analysis for training so that people are trained to fill in vacancies available today and that will be available tomorrow.

“We, as the state government and the Content Development and Management Board, need to collaborate more in the area of information dissemination because there is a lot that the NCDMB can offer that the youths are not aware of. We need that information dissemination process, to make it more active and to ensure that it goes wider than it is.”

The director general of Centre for Youths Development, Comrade Robert Igali, expressed dissatisfaction with the executive secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Ogbe, Senate Committee for upstream and downstream and other relevant stakeholders in the petroleum industry could not attend the programme organised for the capacity development of youths in the Niger Delta region.

“I am not satisfied. Why are you organizing a programme as Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board when the executive secretary is not seated? If the youths are the future of the Niger Delta and if we are to have sustainable peace in the region, that means there should be priority attention given to youth engagement.

“On the issues we will raise as part of this engagement, it will not go anywhere. Ordinarily, the minister in charge of oil should be seated, the Senate Committee for upstream and downstream should be seated, and the same thing with the captains of industry- Shell, Chevron and all the multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, should be seated.

“All the issues we have raised; the representative of the executive secretary cannot answer them. Going forward, I have articulated that by next year, we should be able to have this engagement at the Tower. Why are you taking the youth outside the tower?

“If you are looking for a solution, there are immediate gains, and of course, there are long-term gains. The immediate gains of engagements, training, and all the issues that have been raised would have been attended by the ES. The essence of this engagement is not satisfactory for me”, Igali said.