It is a long journey of 66 years heading back to when hydrocarbon commercial production commenced in Africa’s most populous nation. The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is making the transit nonetheless via its involvement in building the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre (OMRC), which is to be located at Otuabagi, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, says the agency in a Thursday 12 December statement, and that is simply just aligning with history.

Nigeria is one of the African continent’s most prolific crude oil producers and the sixth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It owes its capacity to the discovery of the Oloibiri oil wells in 1956, and two years later, full-scale export production happened.

The NCDMB is following up with these beginner days up to the modern times that have seen major rebranding. It is happening with the execution of the museum’s engineering, procurement, and construction contract with Julius Berger PLC, a great builder of monuments and transport avenues.

NCDMB’s Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who is just completing 53 weeks in office as Executive Secretary, executed the contract at the Board’s liaison office in Abuja yesterday according to confirmation by the Board’s corporate communications department, which foresees that construction would have been done. The OMRC delivered within 30 months if all checks.

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Financing for the museum has been broken down to a capacity-ranging ratio marked 40:30:20 and 10, respectively. That implies a split of the denominations among the Petroleum Development Technology Fund (PTDF), NCDMB, Shell Petroleum Development Company/Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and the Bayelsa State Government.

All these organisations would be partners in a project the comms team of the Board says was registered by guarantee with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) but had attracted willing participation from Julius Berger PLC all the same.

When a company registers by guarantee, they are usually a non-profit setup solely out to promote objectives such as art, culture, science, education, religion, and so forth. Monies realised are reinvested in the founding cause, and that is what the future of the OMRC would look like.

Engr. Ogbe, meaning the NCDMB representative, serves as its chairman, which is why he signed the contract on behalf of the partners. He had with him at the signing Naboth Onyesoh, Esq who is the Board’s Director of Legal Services, and doubles as the Secretary of the newly-registered company.

Life for the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre started during the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari – in February 2023 specifically. It was then that the contract was awarded to Julius Berger in the sum of ₦117billion.

It was a groundbreaking spectacle when this happened. Marking its significance was attendance by leading government officials, oil and gas stakeholders and community members at the ceremony that launched the idea of a museum planning stories that document Nigeria’s oil and gas industry from both social and scientific prisms.

Getting back to Thursday when the partners formalised their agreement to work together with Julius Berger, there was Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe with an expression of delight over what had been accomplished.

This Executive Secretary, whose over 37 years of experience in core oil and gas operations in Nigeria and local content operations makes him an asset, envisions that the project will catalyse immense economic benefits for Bayelsa, the host and the Nigerian economy right from the construction to operation stages.

What the OMRC project brings

• When the Oloibiri Museum and Research Centre has been built, it is expected to be the picture of a world-class oil and gas museum, showcasing the history of crude oil production in Nigeria.
• It would display geological formations, early equipment, tools, and platforms used in the evolution of oil and gas activities.  
• OMRC will come with a research testing centre that will provide a facility where field trials of prototypes of oil and gas-related indigenous research will be conducted. It will also grant access to university students in disciplines that help to better understand indigenous oil and gas technology advancements.

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.