NCDMB: Community Content Guidelines Will End Security Challenges in Oil Industry

The coming of the Community Content Guidelines initiated by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will significantly help to address many of the security challenges being experienced by operators in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well as members of the oil bearing communities.

The General Manager, Corporate Communication, NCDMB, Dr. Ginah Ginah, stated this recently in Lagos, at the NCDMB Nigerian Content workshop for journalists, with the Theme: “Strategic Communication -A Critical Enabler to Attainment of the Nigerian Content 10-Year Roadmap.”

Ginah, said the board is currently collecting names of communities that make up the host communities to oil companies operating in the countries, particularly the Niger Delta oil producing communities.

According to him, “For the host communities, with the coming of the Community Content Guidelines, the security issues are going to be solved. So we believe once we engage the youth of the communities in oil and gas operations, there will be no security issues again. All the kidnappings, oil bunkering and the likes will be no more.”

He, however, disclosed that the board has achieved 30 per cent local content in the nation’s oil and gas industry barely two years into its 10-year Roadmap. Ginah, equally revealed that the NCDMB has succeeded in ensuring that 40 per cent of marine vessels deployed to the nation’s oil and gas industry operations are owned by indigenous companies.

While adding that over 70 per cent of the $200 million Local Content Development Fund has been accessed by indigenous companies who met the requirements for the loan, he said the board would achieve the remaining 70 per cent of its local content target in the next eight years.

He further said: “At the NCDMB, we work collaboratively with all companies to achieve results. We prefer not to be engaging companies in legal battle to avoid keeping projects in standstill. We work proactively as we pursue our local content mandate. We have achieved 40 per cent local content in the ownership of marine vessels, today, 40 per cent of the Marines vessels deployed to the Nigerian oil and gas industry operations is owned by Nigerian companies.”

Ginah, also explained that, in ensuring sectoral linkages in the local content provision, the performance of the board in the oil and gas local content drive has led to move by the national assembly to extend the local content to other sectors of the nation’s economy.

Meanwhile, an Associate Professor of Publishing and Media Studies and Director, Babcock University Press, Prof. Samuel Okere, who delivered a paper titled: “Evolving Trends in Media Reportage and Improving Competencies of Energy Correspondents”, encouraged participants to make “determined effort to be digitally literate”.