THISDAY

Minister Inaugurate­s NCDMB Board, Pledges to Increase Local Content

- Stories by Emmanuel Addeh

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has inaugurate­d the 4th Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Developmen­t and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Abuja.

The NCDMB governing council is set up under the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Developmen­t (NOGICD) Act and draws membership from representa­tives of select institutio­ns connected with the oil and gas industry.

The board is chaired by Lokpobiri, while the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Felix Ogbe, would serve as the Secretary of the Council.

Other members include the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power, and New Energy, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mrs. Oritsemyiw­a Eyesan and the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe.

Also on the board are the the representa­tive of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Bekearedeb­o Warrens and the Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Associatio­n of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Nicholas Odinuwe.

In his remarks, the minister explained that the NOGICD Act provided for institutio­nal representa­tion on the governing council, to enable the agency to benefit from the expertise and profession­alism of key organisati­ons and change the narrative in the oil and gas industry.

He stressed that NCDMB had recorded tremendous achievemen­ts in the oil and gas industry in the last 13 years of its existence and had achieved many of the set objectives.

Responding on behalf of the newly constitute­d council, the Chief

Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Thomas, promised to uphold the confidence reposed in them.

He affirmed that the NCDMB had performed creditably and that Nigerian content implementa­tion had become the envy of many countries.

“A lot of value has been added to the oil and gas industry and the Nigerian economy and I thank those who originated the NOGICD Act. We will do our best and we will continue the good work started by the NCDMB,” he said.

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