The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe is just about a month into his post having been newly appointed. On Tuesday 9 January, he visited two agencies considered vital to the Board’s mandate of ensuring massive patronage of the local services and ideas.

These visits took him to the Abuja offices of the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, and that of Mr Sunday Olorundare Thomas who is the Commissioner for Insurance at the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

Through the actions, the new NCDMB boss aimed to familiarise himself with the chief executives of two key institutions both holding down a spot on the NCDMB’s Governing Council as well as exploring areas of collaboration with them.

The Executive Secretary conveyed the willingness of the NCDMB to deepen its partnership with federal government institutions to realise the economic aspirations of President Bola Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda since cooperation and teamwork were key to accomplishing any objective.

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According to Engr. Ogbe, the NCDMB would work closely with NAICOM to review and operationalise the insurance services regulations jointly issued by the partner agencies in June 2022. Doing this can inspire Nigerian oil and gas companies to patronise local insurance firms instead of foreign ones.

Reacting, Mr Thomas congratulated the Executive Secretary on his appointment, noting that he would be building on the solid foundation laid by his predecessors.

The NAICOM official described NCDMB as a formidable institution and commended the founding fathers of the Board for their foresight in creating such an important agency. He also lauded the former Executive Secretaries of the NCDMB for their innovative projects and achievements that added value to the economy.

The Commissioner described insurance as the oxygen of business operations. He expressed concern that the insurance services regulations that were signed by the commission and NCDMB were yet to be implemented, and so he requested the Executive Secretary to address the challenges.

Implementing the regulations, he said, would bring the needed changes in the insurance subsector of the oil and gas industry before being extended to other key sectors of the economy.

While at the NUPRC, the Executive Secretary reiterated the need for teamwork and partnership among agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to sustain the growth of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. He hinted that collaboration would create an environment conducive to attracting investments and new projects into the sector, helping to create job opportunities.

Local content development, says Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, would be stunted if projects and investments in the oil and gas sector do not flourish, and so he suggested that NCDMB and NUPRC should organise workshops to examine and resolve concerns identified by investors as obstacles to investments and new projects. He hinted that investment decisions by international oil and gas companies are often affected by their assessment of their Return on Investments (ROI).

On his part, the regulatory commission chief executive Engr. Komolafe congratulated the Executive Secretary on his appointment, noting that the industry was pleased to have a person of his pedigree leading NCDMB.

The NUPRC administrator highlighted the important role of the Board in the operations of the upstream sector of the petroleum industry, so it was commendable that the new Executive Secretary was seeking closer cooperation with others. He described the networking move as expedient, especially at a time when every hand is on the deck towards increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production, earning higher revenue for the nation, and reviving the economy.

He remarked that the Nigerian upstream sector is facing severe pressures because of the low crude oil production and lack of investment in recent years. He pointed out that the energy map of the world had changed considerably with the emergence of several new oil-producing countries.

This factor has induced a high level of competitiveness for investment capital, stressing that strategic actions must be taken to make the Nigerian environment investor-friendly.

“We must vacate entry barriers for investment. This is common logic when there is high competition. We need to work together to lower barriers and do everything possible to motivate investment,” the NUPRC helmsman said.

He assured that his organisation would partner closely with the NCDMB to achieve some of the programmes it had planned for 2024.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.