More than seven years have gone by since the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) last had a fresh leader manning the post. That has now been made possible by President Bola Tinubu on Thursday 14 December, with the appointment of Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe as the new Executive Secretary of the agency.

This marks the changing of an old guard, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, who had served as secretary for seven more than seven years, lifting the agency to lofty heights.

The newly appointed Executive Secretary, Ogbe has commenced office work and held his first official meeting with the Directors and management of the Board the same day. At the meeting, he received a high-level briefing on the Board’s projects and initiatives from the Directors and senior management.

In his remarks, the NCDMB boss lauded the successes recorded by the agency in the past years, especially the human capacity development programme, which had produced Nigerians who now provide high-tech services in other African oil-producing countries.

ALSO READ: Simbi Wabote’s six years at NCDMB – A model for public service

Commenting on the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic roadmap, which had recorded 54 percent achievement in the sixth year of implementation, Engr. Ogbe announced that expert consultants would be invited to certify the performance and metrics, to give it more authenticity.

He urged senior officials of the Board to continue delivering high performance in their various roles, to sustain the Board’s premium position. He also indicated the need for the Board to conduct sensitisation programmes to key stakeholders in cities across Nigeria on the abundance of opportunities that the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act has created.

Ogbe also harped on the need for the Board to work closely with its contractors to speed up the delivery of its direct projects such as the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, to realise their objectives for the economy.

Where did Engr. Felix Ogbe originate from?

The new Executive Secretary hails from Warri South in Delta State and is a vastly experienced oil and gas engineer. He holds separate Masters Degrees in Civil Engineering and Construction Management.

He has over 37 years of experience in core oil and gas operations in Nigeria and local content operations, notably onshore and offshore, LNG, water drilling, treatment and storage facilities, civil, building and dredging engineering, and other construction.

These experiences came about following the secretary’s earlier exposure to engineering work in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Likewise, from operating in the large port city of Busan in South Korea, and then in the United States of America. Over there in these places, he worked in the Conceptions, Engineering Designs, Project and Construction Management to Commissioning Phases of projects.

More work experiences cut across Chevron Corporation, where he held top positions in Nigeria and overseas, before he retired voluntarily in June 2014, to go into private business.

While at Chevron Nigeria Limited, Engr. Ogbe served as Construction Services Group Superintendent (Escravos-Warri) and was responsible for in-house construction services requirements to support the company operations.

He equally served as Offshore Projects Manager at Chevron. In this role, he was responsible for all the Engineering designs, Planning and execution of maintenance works, and installation of new facilities to support productions in Chevron Nigeria Limited offshore locations.

Other assignments he held in Chevron included Construction Manager (Lagos and Escravos-Warri), Escravos Gas Project (EGP-3B), where he was responsible for the fabrication and installation of various sizes of pipelines/flowlines in offshore and onshore locations in the Niger Delta.

In his early years, he served as Construction Superintendent responsible for Engineering Designs and Construction requirements and also worked as the Cost Control Engineer, in addition to being responsible for all Facility Engineering Division Projects’ cost controls, budgeting, and cash calls.

Ogbe is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Council of Registered Engineers, and American Institute of Civil Engineers. He is married with children.

ALSO READ: NCDMB’s local content roadmap beats target by reaching 83% completion in 2023

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.