The Senate Committee on Local Content has commended President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for their steadfast commitment to strengthening indigenous participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
The commendation was delivered by the Chairman, Senator Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, and Vice Chairman, Senator Ede Dafinone, following a two-day oversight visit to the NCDMB headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, Senator Thomas praised the NCDMB for aligning with the vision of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, saying the board had clearly shown the capability to deliver on its statutory mandate.
“The NCDMB has demonstrated the requisite capacity for actualisation of the objectives of the act setting it up,” Thomas said.
Senator Dafinone echoed the sentiment, describing the progress recorded by the NCDMB as impressive, particularly in infrastructure development and human capital investment.
“This is the first oversight visit of the 10th Senate to the NCDMB. We had time with the Executive Secretary and his team to understand what they do and the results we’re seeing for Nigerians,”
“I have to say we are impressed. The industrial park is nearly finished and already being occupied. But beyond the physical structures, the NCDMB’s work extends to training and human capacity development programmes that are crucial to the sector and to our national development,”he stated.
He further noted that the board’s self-assessment report indicated that 56 per cent of the workforce in the oil and gas sector is now Nigerian—a key achievement under the local content framework.
Dafinone also pressed for a more equitable distribution of oil and gas dividends, citing the need for Delta Central and other oil-producing areas to benefit from infrastructure and training investments.
“Delta Central, being part of the oil-producing Niger Delta, deserves robust infrastructure, skills training centres, and economic opportunities for its people,” he stressed.
The Senate delegation held technical meetings with the leadership of NCDMB to assess its compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and toured several strategic projects. These included the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGaPS), the NCDMB Gas Hub, the Conference Hotel building project, and the NCDMB Crèche.
The visit marks a significant legislative endorsement of the NCDMB’s mandate and the Tinubu administration’s broader push for local content and economic empowerment through indigenous capacity-building.