December 08, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said it is willing to partner more universities and other Research institutions across the country towards the development of the nation’s hydrocarbon industry.
The board stated Tuesday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital at a workshop it organised for media stakeholders from the South-South geo-political zone.
THEWILL, which monitored the exercise reports that the NCDMB Director for Research, Planning and Statistics, Patrick Daziba Obah stated this during a paper presentation tagged: ‘R&D as pathway for deepening Nigerian Content implementation.
Our Correspondent, who was present, reports that the 2021 NCDMB capacity building workshop for media stakeholders has as its theme: ‘Sustaining Nigerian content amidst shifting energy landscape: The role of the media”.
Obah noted that no oil producing country could maximise its energy potentials without research and planning, adding that following the importance the board attaches to the development of the oil and gas sector, the board has set aside USD50,000,000 for Research and development in the industry.
He expressed worry that though the research fund was depleting due to the figures already deployed for Research in various institutions,the NCDMB he said, was confident that the harvests obtainable from the deployment of the funds were enormous.
“The NCDMB has set up research centres through partnership with various Universities in Nigeria in partnership with some of the IOCs. We’ve partnered with the Federal universities of Technology Owerri, FUTO, Akure and Minna. We’ve other centres of excellence in the University of Port Harcourt, the Niger Delta University and we hope to add more to our list of partnership” .
“But we needed more partnership with other organisations in terms of increasing the depleting research funds”, he said.
In his opening remarks, the General manager, Corporate Communications and zonal coordination of the NCDMB, Dr Ginah .O. Ginah scored the board high on its achievements, saying that the rationale behind the setting up of the content board is being achieved gradually.
He noted that the various oil and gas infrastructure under execution in different parts of the country,some inaugurated and others at various phases of completion were a direct result of the board’s willingness to change the narratives of the oil and gas sector for the better, commending the media for its roles and partnership with the board towards the development of the oil and gas industry.
Highpoints of the programme were presentations by two academics of the University of Port Harcourt, Professors Aniefiok Udoudo of the department of Linguistics and communication studies and Chijioke Nwaozuzu of the University’s Emerald energy institute, which were tagged, ‘Retooling competencies for the changing media landscape’ and Dissecting the petroleum industry Act(PIA), respectively.
However, in a recap of the presentations at the event, the Manager, Corporate communications of the NCDMB, Barr. Naboth Onyesoh commended the lead presenters and other participants for making the event meaningful.
He added that the importance of the media to ensure a stronger and verile content board cannot be overemphasised, noting that the board is headed towards better partnership with the media and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector.
About the Author
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
