OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has enjoined the Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, to remain focused on implementation of Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap to grow Nigerian Content to the targeted level of 70% by 2027.
While speaking at the 10th Practical Nigerian Content conference holding in Bayelsa, Sylva said the upward trajectory achieved by the Board within a short period is “commendable”.
“The great accomplishments of the Board as well as the activities of other key agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources have positioned our Ministry as a top performer in the Presidential Scorecard, assessed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation”.
According to him, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has adopted a strategic action to immortalise Oloibiri and industrialise Bayelsa State through the establishment of the Oil and Gas Museum and Research Center, Oloibiri currently being developed jointly by NCDMB, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, and Shell Petroleum Development Company and the Bayelsa State Government.
Other strategic actions by the federal government to industrialize Bayelsa State include the various oil and gas investments now crystalizing in various parts of the state like the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme, NOGAPS, the Brass Petroleum Products Terminal Limited, BPPT, the Brass Fertilizer Project and Methanol Plant, Gas Processing Plant, Modular Refinery, and others, he said.
“It deserves to be mentioned that PNC has continued to grow every year because NCDMB has consistently broken new grounds with the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
“The great accomplishments of the Board as well as the activities of other key agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources have positioned our Ministry as a top performer in the Presidential Scorecard, assessed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation”, he said.
This year’s conference is themed: ‘Driving Nigerian Content in the Dawn of the Petroleum Industry Act”. This theme is apt, timely and symbolic’.
According to the Minister, signing the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA into law in August is a watershed event in the annals of Nigeria’s petroleum industry which has literally rolled away the cloud of uncertainty that has hindered investments into the industry for so long.
“Hence, we took quick and decisive steps by establishing the Board of the NNPC Limited, constituted the management teams for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority.
“Government expects that with the PIA now in place and supported by the enabling structures to ease doing business, new Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) should begin to happen rapidly in the Nigerian oil and gas industry”, he said.
