New Telegraph

We have increased local contractors funds from $200m to $350m – NCDMB

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Tuesday said that the current board has.increased the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, administered by the Bank of Industry for local players in the oil sector, from $200 million to $350 million adding that it has invested in the newly inaugurated 5,000 barrels per day Walter Smith Modular Refinery in Imo, and Azikel Refinery.
The board also said it has set aside a $50 million grant for Research and Development in selected Nigerian universities, disclosing that exploration and production in the Nigeria oil and gas sector was now fully indigenous.
Speaking via zoom during a media workshop organised for South South media practioners in Port Harcourt, Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, said that 10 years after its establishment in April 2010, the NCDMB had grown Nigerian content from less than 10 per cent to 32 percent, with the aim of hitting 70 per cent by 2027.
The workshop titled: ”Sustaining Nigerian Content Development Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of the Media”, Wabote said that the COVID-19 pandemic, which compelled expatriates in the oil industry to leave the country, presented an opportunity for Nigerians to take over and run the industry.
He observed that this accomplishment had indicated growth in the technical capacity of Nigerians to run the industry, hitherto dominated by foreigners.
In his presentation, Dr Gina Gina, General Manager Corporate Communications, NCDMB, said that the board had successfully developed a policy to incorporate host communities in the oil and gas value chain, using the Community Content Guidelines.
He explained that the guidelines had reserved a quota of jobs and contracts for local communities hosting oil and gas facilities, to promote harmony between oil firms and host communities.
Speaking on the role of the media in achieving Nigerian Content’s 10-year strategic roadmap, Chido Nwakamma, lecturer at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, urged the media to focus on providing solutions in their reporting of the sector.
He traced the pioneering role of the first newspaper in Nigeria, Iwe Irohin, in campaigning for a better society and mobilizing its readers to be patriotic and embrace education, and urged today’s journalists to return to the path of development focused reporting.

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