Senate to ensure Nigerians derive more benefits from oil/gas industry
Members of the Senate Committee on Local Content have promised to support the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to ensure that Nigerians derive more benefits from the Oil and Gas Industry.
The senators also identified the urgent need to resuscitate technical and vocational education (TVE) as a vector for human capacity development, observing that the curriculum of science, engineering and technology courses offered in Nigerian Universities and other tertiary institutions needs to be reformed and reorganised to meet requirements of the Oil and Gas Industry.
They made the commendations at the close of the three–day capacity building workshop organised for the Senate Committee on Local Content in Accra, Ghana.
The Senators however lauded the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for its strategic implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and the steady growth in local capacities in the Oil and Gas Industry.
After several insightful presentations on the Board’s mandate, operation, the regulatory framework in the Nigerian Oil Industry, the journey so far and the challenges of enforcing compliance, all the eight Senators in attendance lauded NCDMB for the significant milestones recorded, despite very many drawbacks.
Solomon Adeola, chairman Senate Committee, stated that from all that he had heard and seen, the Board is fulfilling the purpose for which it was established. The Senate Minority Leader and Vice Chairman of the Committee, Godswill Akpabio as well as other Senators re-echoed the same opinion and promised to support the Board to ensure that Nigerians derive more benefits from the Oil and Gas Industry.
Abiodun Olujumi, deputy minority leader of the Senate, said the participation of two principal officers of the Senate – with six other senators clearly showed the importance the upper legislature attaches to the issue of local content in Nigeria.
Earlier in his opening speech, Solomon Adeola reminded members the purpose for creating the Senate Committee on Local Content, which includes to ensure the use of local manpower by companies operating in Nigeria; design policies that would engender the patronage of locally made goods and services; to oversight the work of NCDMB and to identify the gaps in the NOGICD Act with a view to amending it to reflect current realities.
He opines that the Senate capacity building workshop was necessary to develop legislators’ understanding of NCDMB’s mandate, the journey so far, what has been achieved, the challenges and further actions required “to ensure that Nigerians derive more benefits from the industry.
Simbi Wabote, executive secretary, NCDMB while speaking on the topic, “Structure and Operation of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, reaffirmed the determination of the Board to fulfil its mission “to be the catalyst for the industrialisation of Nigerian oil and gas and its linkage sectors”.
He acknowledged the encouraging remarks of the Senators noting that their commendations and positive feedback will act as fresh tonic to the Board in the pursuit of its strategic objective to increase Nigerian Content performance to 70 percent in the next ten years.
Olusola Bello