The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have begun discussions that will lead to the involvement of communities in the oil and gas value chain.
The knowledge exchange session between the two agencies, took place in Yenagoa. The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Omatsola Ogbe, was represented by the Director, Corporate Services, Dr. Abdulmalik Halilu, while the NDDC was represented by the Director of Corporate Governance, Mr. Anele Stephen Nzelaw.
It was the first time that the two federal government agencies who have been involved in the development re-engineering processes in the country will be meeting in that manner to compare notes and consider how to break new grounds together.
Ogbe appreciated NDDC’s recognition of the Board as “the number one institution” for a peer review mechanism, noting that the engagement would serve as “a two-way traffic” where the Board could gain useful insights from the NDDC team to improve its own standards, while it shared its own experience and knowledge with the visitors.
He said: “Let us compare notes and adopt what works. Sessions like this exemplify what institutions should be doing to improve service delivery to stakeholders.
“The Board is “always on the pathway towards continuous improvement. Some of the automation in human resources, management systems and several other automated activities are all products of periodic system checks.”
Ogbe said the NCDMB and NDDC have a number of areas where collaboration would be mutually beneficial in furthering their respective statutory responsibilities.
The multibillion-naira Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum and Research Centre, he noted, was a project where the Commission’s involvement is expected, especially after the NDDC’s Management made such a pledge at the groundbreaking ceremony in February 2023.
Ogbe said the Board had instituted a “Back-to-the-Creeks” initiative, which seeks to provide targeted interventions in oil- and gas-producing communities to empower youths through skills acquisition and appropriate incentives, and motivation of teachers in schools within rural communities through provision of adequate educational infrastructure.
According to him, “the more we invest in young talents in host communities the more they are made available to participate in the oil and gas activities, and as we build entrepreneurs… they are integrated into the oil and gas supply chain.”
In his response, Nzelaw, commended the NCDMB for its exceptional performance and accomplishments within a short space of time. He said his team was at the corporate headquarters of the NCDMB to learn “those things that have made your organization achieve so much within such a short period.”
Citing “the world-class fabrication and construction yards” that have emerged with the advent of the NOGICD Act and the Board, and “massive programmes of human capital development,” he noted, “You’ve been around for only 15 years.” His organisation, according to him, could learn from the Board.
The NDDC Director disclosed that the new Management was poised for far-reaching reforms, that having been around for 25 years with mixed results, the present Management thinks that “it is time to move our businesses from a transactional dimension to a strategic transformational level.”
In furtherance of that plan, he noted, the Commission decided to develop a governance framework by engaging a foremost organisation, KPMG. Such a framework, he explained, would ensure continuity of policies and programmes.
He said that the governance framework of the NCDMB, as well as strategies, internal controls, and accountability measures were of especial interest to his team.
