…Seeks due process, increased investments in gas projects
By Emmanuel Atokolo
Speculations have emerged that the appointment of a Co-Chairman for the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) by President Tinubu may not be unconnected with a ploy to check the Ministerial power of the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.
This is as stakeholders suggest that this may not be unconnected with the face-off between the Minister (Lokpobiri) and the NCDMB since his appointment as Chairman of the board.
Earlier, NewsDirect gathered from staff who pleaded anonymity alleging that “the Minister was trying to take full control of the agency and treat it like his own.”
There had also been reports by some sections of the Nigerian media of a face-off between the Minister and the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Felix Ogbe, over the reversal of the decision of the Executive Secretary, redeploying some staffers of the Board.
Similarly, the Minister had most recently been embroiled in an argument of facts regarding the effectiveness of the board’s investments in certain projects alleging that the NCDMB under Simbi Wabote mismanaged $500 million on various projects and loans.
This is as Wabote, a former NCDMB ES accused Lokpobiri of asking him in December 2023 to increase the NCDMB budget by N30bn for the Office of the Minister and he refused; a claim Lokpobiri described as untrue.
The former NCDMB boss said Lokpobiri’s “reckless statements” in the past months were not new to him.
He said, “My problem as the Executive Secretary started with Lokpobiri in December 2023 when he sent one of his undocumented aides within his ministry to my office in Yenagoa (Blackson) requesting me to increase the NCDMB budget by N30bn for the office of the Minister and I said it had never been done before.”
Wabote claimed he told the oil minister he had served two ministers and none of them ever requested such a thing from the NCDMB, saying the board only made provision for the office of the Chairman of the Council which covers his travel expenses.
“I said to him that the maximum the NCDMB budget has ever got to in the past is circa N80 billion for all our activities, adding N30bn will be too much for his office and I was not going to do it,” he stated.
In the latest development, President Tinubu appointed the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo as the Co-Chair of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
The NCDMB in a statement yesterday however stated that the appointment of Hon. Ekpo as the Co-Chair of the Governing Council of the NCDMB had been approved by Mr. President in mid-April, and announced publicly on Thursday via a statement by the Special Adviser Media & Publicity to the President, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
The new Co-chair received in audience the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe yesterday providing an opportunity for the Executive Secretary and the Board’s top management to brief the Minister on the agency’s mandate, activities and initiatives.
The presentation dwelt extensively on the Board’s third-party investments, over 60 percent of which are gas based. The NCDMB team informed the Minister that the investments are in furtherance of the Federal Government’s plan to power the Nigerian economy with gas resources as well as the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.
In his remarks, the Minister commended the Board for investing in worthy third-party projects, which have helped to create jobs and deepen local content, with some beginning to yield return on investments. He pledged his commitment to support NCDMB to achieve its mandate, which is key to meeting the economic aspirations of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
He stressed that due process must be followed in carrying out the operations of the Board, in line with the instructions and example set by Mr. President.
He also promised to visit the Board’s third-party projects as well as the beneficiaries of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, especially the projects that focus specifically on gas.
The Co-Chair of the NCDMB’s Governing Council also commended the Board for its strategic role in approving the Nigeria LNG Train 7 project, noting that the project had brought a lot of benefits to the Nigerian economy.
Some of the senior management of the Board at the meeting included the Director Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, Projects Certification and Authorisation, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, Acting Director Legal Services, Mr. Naboth Onyesoh, Esq and Acting Director Finance and Personnel Management, Mr. Ifeanyi Ukoha.