Fourteen years of establishing the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act has yielded positive reviews for the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) following a visit by Ghana’s upstream petroleum regulator towards a framework for its own oil and gas pursuits.

Currently, the West African neighbour is going through an introspection to detect where problems are hanging. In the period lasting between 2018 and 2023, exploration activities in Ghana reportedly reduced by over 40%, with only a handful of new wells being drilled. And there have been head scratches over layers of taxes that the country has imposed, altogether encouraging the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to leave for friendlier terrains both within the region and East Africa.

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Working out a path out of the quagmire led to the NCDMB’s five-day engagement with the Petroleum Commission of Ghana. Networking between the agencies kicked off in Africa’s largest city Lagos on Monday, 12 August 2024, and it witnessed the Ghanaian half paying a courtesy visit to the Board’s Executive Secretary Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe.

On the path of its exceptional growth since coming to life in April 2010, NCDMB will hold its neighbour’s hands whenever such is needed. This chimes with the spirit of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) which encourages continent-wide collaboration, not just in West Africa.

So, at the Board’s liaison office in Lagos, Engr. Ogbe welcomed the delegation and relayed the Board’s unwavering commitment to support sister African countries to develop local content and indigenous technological capabilities. 

It was all about knowledge-sharing as soon as three days of bonding unclipped the brake gear at the Movenpick Hotel located in Lagos. At the meeting, NCDMB’s Director of Monitoring and Evaluation Mr. Abdulmalik Halilu anchored participants with the welcome address. He echoed AfCTA’s goals, underlining that African oil-producing countries need to develop unique capacities, trade amongst themselves, and grow the African economy as much as possible. 

The engagement with the Ghana Petroleum Commission, much as it is useful to Nigeria to measure its local content drive in the oil and gas industry, is now only just a routine. Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe and his team had the pleasure of hosting key officials of the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and Mozambique’s national oil company the Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) earlier in 2024.  

With Ghana’s upstream petroleum regulator, no effort was spared to make interactions worthwhile. Key officials of the NCDMB joined their heads to make sure by discussing the Board’s strategies and operating procedures with the guests.

In the early days, NCDMB’s officials were able to enlighten their audience on their core operations value, like supplier development initiatives captured by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme (NOGaPS).

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Images from the ongoing Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) three-day Knowledge Sharing Session with the Petroleum Commission of Ghana at the Movenpick Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.

NCDMB continues to provide and educate them on key aspects NOGICD Act,… pic.twitter.com/2grR6vrgJf

— NCDMB (@OfficialNCDMB) August 15, 2024

Later on will deliver some presentations focusing on the operating framework for planning, research and statistics, succession planning processes, Nigerian Joint Qualification System (NJQS), Biometrics system, human capacity building, institutional strengthening, Nigerian Content Equipment Certification (NCEC) and other templates. All that is needed to energise Ghana’s petroleum industry in the positive way that it is looking for the host.

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Meiza Nigeria