Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Co-Chair of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, has pledged his support for local content projects and programmes that focus specifically on gas.
Ekpo has also pledged his commitment to support NCDMB to achieve its mandate, which he said was key to meeting the economic aspirations of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
The Minister made the pledge when he received in audience the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, in Abuja during a meeting to brief the Minister on the agency’s mandate, activities and initiatives.
He stressed that due process must be followed in carrying out the operations of the Board, in line with the instructions and example set by President Tinubu, and lauded the Board for investing in worthy third-party projects, which have helped to create jobs and deepen local content, with some beginning to yield return on investments.
He also promised to visit the Board’s third-party projects as well as the beneficiaries of the Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, especially the projects that focus specifically on gas.
The Co-Chair of the NCDMB’s Governing Council also commended the Board for its strategic role in approving the Nigeria LNG Train-7 project, noting that the project had brought a lot of benefits to the Nigerian economy.
Earlier, the NCDMB team led by the Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, made a presentation which dwelt extensively on the Board’s third-party investments, of which over 60percent were gas based.
The NCDMB team informed the minister that the investments were in furtherance of the Federal Government’s plan to power the Nigerian economy with gas resources as well as the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.
The appointment of Hon. Ekpo as the Co-Chair of the Governing Council of the NCDMB was announced by the Presidency last Thursday via a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
