The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote, has advocated for action parties to provide annual status reports of the successes, issues, support required, and target completion dates for Decade of Gas Programme of the Federal Government.
Wabote gave the recommendation at the just concluded
Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) which ended in Abuja at the
weekend. The NCDMB boss who made separate presentations on Local Content
Investment and Sustainable Energy Future and Building Local Content and
Capacity for Realization of Nigeria’s Decade of Gas said there was the need to
have a stron reporting template for the programme which is already in its
seventh year of implementation.
He suggested that the status reports would be prepared by
agencies, entities and stakeholders that are responsible for the various
projects and initiatives identified in the Decade of Gas programme and
presented at the NIES which holds annually at Abuja. He challenged stakeholders
not to get distracted or lose steam in the implementation of the programme even
as a new administration is set to assume office on May 29, 2023.
He called for the continuity of the Decade of Gas
programmes, hinting that “it is possible that the incoming government will give
the programme a new name but we must not lose focus on the importance of gas to
our energy needs and economic development.”
The Executive Secretary also highlighted eight focus areas
the Board is utilizing to drive the realization of the Decade of Gas initiative
of the Federal Government. They includeHuman Capacity Development, Construction
of Industrial Parks, Public-Private Partnerships and Nigerian Content
Intervention Funds. Others are Research and Development, Regulatory Framework,
Regional Collaboration, and Enabling Business Environment.
Dwelling on the capacity building programmes required to
enhance the training and re-training of capable workforce for the industry,
Wabote explained that NCDMB had “delivered close to 14 million man hours of
training for acquisition of various skill sets required to explore, develop,
operate, and maintain hydrocarbon facilities.”
He listed some of the Board’s Human Capacity Development
tools and programmes to include the Expatriate Quota Management System, STEM
Education, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), Institutional
Strengthening, ICT Centers, and Training Certifications.
He stated that the Board’s capacity-building programmes were
impactful and acknowledged internationally, adding that the survey carried out
by African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) to assess the standards in
training institutions on the African continent rated Nigeria as one of the top
countries with credible institutions for training the required manpower for the
oil and gas industry.
Giving updates on the construction of oil and gas industrial
parks, the Executive Secretary said the Board has commenced issuance of
allocation letters to credible investors in readiness for the commencement of
operations within the NOGAPS Industrial Parks located in Bayelsa and Cross
River states. He informed that “the NCDMB Gas Hub at Polaku is fully dedicated
to domiciliation of gas related enterprises such as Pressure Reduction and
Metering Station, CNG mother stations, LPG cylinder manufacturing plant, Gas
processing facilities, power plant, and other similar facilities.”
Commenting on the theme of the summit, which is Global
Perspectives for a Sustainable Energy Future, Wabote said the challenges of
energy transition “has brought to the fore the need for every nation to
leverage its own comparative cost advantage by developing the energy resources
that it has in relative abundance”adding that “most countries including Nigeria
have a mix of these resources, and they must apply local content investments to
realise sustainable energy future.”
He described local content development as a philosophy that
seeks to encourage the utilization of local resources such as humans, goods,
services, oil, gas, wind, hydro, or solar while at the same time promoting in-country
domiciliation of value-adding activities.
He further remarked that narratives around energy transition
have shifted significantly from Energy swap to Energy mix and this was because
of the factual recognition that all forms of energy are important rather than
demonising one form of energy against the other, simply because some nations
have depleted their reserves of certain energy sources.
He also noted that the European Union had re-classified gas and nuclear energy as Green-energy in 2022, while “coal production and consumption are on the resurgence as discussions are now about how to make it cleaner rather than referring to coal as ‘dirty fuel’.”