…Shows what media, others can do
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) seems to be facing an undercurrent of expectation crisis arising from many requests from groups that ask as of right.
For this reason, the Board has rolled out a set of engagements to educate its stakeholders and segments to understand the mandate of the Board and align their expectations properly.
One of the engagements took place in Port Harcourt few days ago where Obinna Ezeobi, General Manager, Corporate Communications, admitted the existence of an expectation crisis and laid the grounds of resolution strategies and the role the media may play in the process.
Ezeobi told an audience of media leaders, youth leaders, and non-government actors that there seems to be expectation crisis concerning the Board. He said it is thus important to state that the Board is not an interventionist agency for the Niger Delta.
His remarks were to prepare ground for Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, Corporate Communications of the Board who made an elaborate presentation.
Ezeobi appealed to the media leaders to help do gatekeeping concerning the Board so that when issues develop, the media can lead in independent voice so every group will know what their rights and roles were. “You will thus reject what you know is not our duty or mandate.
“Set agenda on how to meet content target. You can ask, how do we move from the current 56% to 70% or more? We have been supporting the media in many ways to help build their capacity to perform its role in the local content space.”
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He said Felix Ogbe, the new Executive Secretary (ES), has changed a lot of things at the NCDMB. “The result is that we have won many awards as performing Government Agencies.
“The Board was set up in 2010 to promote Nigerian content. As a strategy, we engage stakeholders continually.”
He said capacity-building is key in pushing for local content. “Knowledge transfer and competences are needed to enhance Nigerian content drive. A key enabler is having regular engagements. Every stakeholder has impact on our work, and the media has helped the Board to meet our mandate.”
He said the objective of the engagement was to explain the mandate of the NCDMB, insisting that the Niger Delta alone is not the focus of the Board going by the Act, but to get Nigeria play bigger role in the oil industry. “This will help the stakeholders know where to channel their requests.”
Most persons however felt that because the Nigeria Content Act was signed by a president from the oil region (Goodluck Jonathan) and the headquartered sited in Yenagoa, they felt the NCDMB was created for the oil region.
In his presentation, Halilu (Director, Corporate Affairs) said Nigeria has no business with poverty if the right things were done. “That is what the NCDMB is striving to achieve, that is what the Board is all about. The journey is about local value addition.”
He talked about targets by the Board, mentioning to serve as a catalyst in Nigerian content; to state and execute value proposition which is about strong research and development to boost the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), and to create jobs. “We are not chasing away expatriates. We are just saying, domesticate your operations.”
He said everything they do revolves around the mandate which he mentioned as monitoring for performance, for compliance, and for intervention.
He gave updates on the achievements of the Board so far and said Nigeria is now sought after around Africa due to capacities acquired by Nigerians in oil and gas which are hotly needed around Africa and beyond.
Other officials of the Board also gave perspectives to newsmen on how to help Nigerians secure benefits from the Board and how local content can be better improved.
They gave the NLNG as a case study where a lot of manufacturing and fabrications were carried out in-country.
Some youth leaders and NGO operatives however appealed to the Board to give more heed to issues arising from the Niger Delta.
