Industry and governance heavyweights signpost NCDMB Lecture Series on Nigerian content
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is deepening its role as both an industry regulator and a thought leader with the launch of the Nigerian Content Academy Lecture Series, a new platform that seeks to spark conversation, not just compliance, in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
Organised by the Nigerian Content Academy, a specialised training arm of the Board, the weekly lecture series will bring together some of the country’s most respected voices in energy, policy, and enterprise to reexamine the direction of local content in a rapidly changing industry.
Former President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, pioneer Executive Secretary Dr Ernest Nwapa, Mrs Olu Arowolo Verheijen, Special Adviser on Energy to President Bola Tinubu, and Mr Austin Avuru, Executive Chairman of AA Holdings and former CEO of Seplat, are among those confirmed to lead the conversations.
For the Board, this is not another conference circuit. It is a deliberate effort to shift the industry dialogue from operational compliance to intellectual renewal, a return to first principles of why local content matters and how it can evolve. According to Dr Ama Ikuru, Director of the Nigerian Content Academy, the series will run for 12 weeks, with each session tackling an emerging challenge within the oil and gas ecosystem.
From regulatory adaptation to human capacity development, each lecture aims to unpack not just what has been achieved, but what must change. We want to bring together key stakeholders to review progress, reimagine implementation, and shape the issues around delivering the Nigerian Content mandate, Ikuru said.
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The lineup itself reads like a timeline of Nigeria’s oil and gas evolution. Dr Nwapa will open the series on October 9, 2025, speaking on Staying the Nigerian Content Course in the Midst of Delivery Challenges, a fitting start from the man who helped institutionalise the Board’s early vision. The following week, Mr Sam Ezugworie, COO of Seplat Energy, will speak on Managing Non-Technical Risks and Local Content Growth in Oil and Gas.
Other confirmed speakers include Mrs Verheijen on Maximising Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investments through Local Content Implementation, on November 12, Mr Avuru on Indigenous Operators as the Pillars for Local Content Growth.
Dr Jonathan will speak on December 10, when he reflects on The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010, 15 Years On: Achievements and the Way Forward. The series will close with Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, will deliver a lecture titled: New Initiatives, New Thinking for Growing Nigerian Content in the Oil and Gas Industry on December 18, 2025.
Also expected to feature are Mr Chidi Nkazi, Prof. Mike Onyekwu, Dr Nosa Omorodion, Barr. Mohammed Umar, Mazi Sam Onyechi, and Prof. Joseph Atubokiki-Ajienka, each adding their own layer of perspective to a national conversation long overdue for nuance.
Beyond the structure of weekly lectures, the idea behind the Academy’s series runs deeper. The Nigerian Content Academy has, over the years, quietly positioned itself as more than a training centre; it has become a bridge between policy ambition and human capacity. Its mission is simple but far-reaching: to prepare Nigerians not just to participate in the oil and gas industry, but to lead it, expand it, and link it to other growth sectors.
The Lecture Series, then, is both symbolic and practical. Symbolic because it revisits the original promise of the Nigerian Content Act, a 15-year-old legislation that redefined ownership, equity, and technical confidence in Nigeria’s oil economy. Practical because it places that conversation in the context of energy transition, investment shifts, and the demand for innovation.
At a time when global energy systems are being rewritten, the NCDMB’s move to institutionalise open, reflective conversations suggests an understanding that development is as much intellectual as it is industrial. The real value of local content, after all, lies not just in percentages or compliance targets, but in how a nation translates resource wealth into knowledge, competence, and shared prosperity.
