So far the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has been witnessing positive milestones that show that objectives are being met but there is no resting on those gains.

Progressing was what led to a gathering on Tuesday 5 March involving stakeholders in the oil and gas industry and leading academics. The purpose of converging was to attend a three-day Research and Development (R&D) Zonal Workshop being hosted at the Amassoma campus of the Niger Delta University (NDU), in Bayelsa State.

The special focus of the NCDMB sponsoring the workshop is to engender needs-driven research in academia which then deepens collaboration. It is to be expected that the workshop would provide its participants with a forum for discussions and demonstration of research breakthroughs in software and hardware related to the oil and gas industry’s needs for bioremediation and related oil field chemicals solutions, such as additives and drilling fluids, and renewable solutions to boost energy generation.

The workshop has been fixed to happen in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, NCDMB’s Centres of Excellence in the zones will ensure that., By the time the programme ends, the capacity building of research directors and lecturers, particularly in writing and reading compelling research proposals, would have been built based on the quality of the output.

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In a keynote address he gave yesterday, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe said the Board is empowered by Sections 36-39 and 70 (m) of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010, to coordinate and superintend over research and development towards the further attainment of the goal of developing Nigerian content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

According to the secretary, critical gaps hampering the research climate in our sector, notably, lack of research infrastructure, funding and weak commercial frameworks, had been identified in the Board’s 10-Year Strategic Road Map, which was developed in 2017. Appropriate measures to close such gaps were also identified.

He noted that the establishment of Research Centres of Excellence in the six geopolitical zones of the country and [the] establishment of the R&D Fund to stimulate research in the oil and gas sector were some of the measures recommended to remedy the identified gaps. The Nigerian Content Research and Development Fund,” he explained, was launched by the Board in 2021 with an initial seed capital of $50 million.

Highlighting a major success in research-related endeavours of the NCDMB, Engr. Ogbe said the commissioning of the Amal Technology Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Facility in Abuja was a result of research commercialisation, amplified in the NCDMB Technology Innovation and Incubation policy which created the Technology Innovation and Incubation Centre inside the Nigerian Content Towers at Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

The Executive Secretary was represented by the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, NCDMB, Mr Isaac Yalah, and he pointed out that the Board created six research centres of excellence hosted by tertiary institutions in different geopolitical zones.

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These are Niger Delta University (NDU), which hosts a Centre of Excellence for Engineering Studies; Federal University of Technology (FUT), Akure; FUT, Owerri, and FUT, Minna, with Centres of Excellence in Geology and Geophysical Studies, Local Raw Materials Substitution, and Technology Development, Studies, respectively. Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, hosts Safety and Environment Studies, while Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, hosts Renewable Energy.

In setting the context of the event, NCDMB’s Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr Isaac Yalah, described the workshop as a journey towards fostering collaboration and linkage between industry, academia and government, which he noted are critical to the nation’s quest for economic development.

Meiza Nigeria