Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, has charged the new management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to improve on the performance of their predecessors, saying his administration will continue to support the organisation’s effort to develop local content.
Diri stated this when the recently appointed board members led by the Executive Secretary Mr. Felix Omashola-Ogbe, paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Yenagoa on Thursday.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as saying that as the host state, the Bayelsa government will cooperate and partner with the NCDMB to ensure it achieves its set objectives.
Governor Diri congratulated the Executive Secretary and the board members on their appointment by President Bola Tinubu and urged them to perform optimally in order to change the narrative in the country’s oil and gas sector.
He also charged the management to be guided by the agitations that resulted in the establishment of the organisation, whereby oil and gas host communities were neglected and treated like second-class citizens in the management of their own natural resources.
The Bayelsa helmsman stressed that the Niger Delta people, who constituted the local content of the oil industry, must take the driver’s seat and tasked the board to make that one of its goals.
He said: “I thank you for stating the obvious and that is, we must work, partner and cooperate to ensure that your being here as Executive Secretary and management will add value to the lives and people of Bayelsa State and indeed Nigerians.
“So, on behalf of the state and the Prosperity Government, we say congratulations on your appointment by the President.
“We believe that this is one area that if you perform well, you will change the narrative about the oil and gas industry. Part of our challenges here is that the oil and gas industry has not taken along the local content, that is the people of the Niger Delta.
