The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said the media is critical to promoting the development of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination Division, NCDMB, Dr Ginah Ginah gave the charge at the Nigerian Content Capacity Building Workshop organised for Media Stakeholders on Tuesday in Lagos.
The workshop had as its theme, “Sustaining Nigerian Content Amidst Shifting Energy Landscape: The Role of the Media.”
Ginah, represented by Mr Naboth Onyesoh, Manager, Corporate Communications, NCDMB, said the oil and gas industry is very important to the nation’s economy, hence the need to have more local players in the sector.
He noted that NCDMB was established to drive indigenous participation in the oil and gas space and is working towards achieving 70 per cent Nigerian content by 2030.
Ginah urged the media to promote local content agenda and carry out whistleblowing role by exposing non-compliance activities by players in the industry through investigative journalism.
He said since inception in 2010, the board had identified the media as one of the most important stakeholders in its implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
According to him, this collaboration is even more important as the world moves towards energy transition which is likely to impact Nigeria’s economy.
Ginah said the NCDMB had aligned itself with the Federal Government’s plan to leverage Nigeria’s gas resources as the nation’s transition energy through the declaration of 2021 to 2030 as the Decade of Gas.
He said the NCDMB had made several interventions in the gas value-chain which span the development of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage terminals and jetties.
Ginah said these also include inland gas processing to produce LPG and propane, infrastructure for gas gathering and injection into gas pipeline networks, Compressed Natural Gas facilities, and manufacturing of composite LPG cylinders.
Also, Mr Abdulmalik Halilu, General Manager, Planning Research and Development, NCDMB said local content in the sector had grown from five per cent in 2010 to 42 per cent in 2020.
Halilu said investment in research and development is needed going forward, to sustain the progress being made in the industry.
He said investment in areas such as manufacturing, fabrication, design engineering, project management, oil services, among others would enable more Nigerian companies to become major players in the sector.
To this end, he said the NCDMB had in 2020 initiated the $50million Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund to support the companies.