African Petroleum Producers, NCDMB Seek Collaboration on Capacity Building

Emmanuel Addeh

The African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) has paid a two-day study visit to the headquarters of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to seek areas of collaboration with the board.

 A statement by the NCDMB listed some of the facilities inspected during the visit as the 17-storey Nigerian Content Tower located in Swali, Yenagoa as well as the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGaPs) in Emeyal 1, Ogbia, Bayelsa State.

Director, Research in APPO, Dr. Naja Terha, who led the team,  mentioned that the purpose of the visit was to assess some oil and gas training and research centres and institutes in Nigeria in terms of their capacity, quality of programmes and determine current capacity and future expansion requirements where necessary.

He added that the team was also keen to ascertain the willingness of the management of those centres to serve as regional APPO centres of excellence, and to collaborate with peer institutes in other APPO members countries in the field of technology development and training.

Receiving the delegation from APPO, the Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote,  explained that NCDMB had since its inception in 2010 shared experiences with other African nations on the operations of local content and how to implement the policies successfully.

He added that NCDMB had also set an agenda for a common local content programme for Africa.

Also, in his presentation titled Human Capital Development (HCD) and Nigerian Content Development, the General Manager, Capacity Building Division NCDMB, Dr. Ama Ikuru said the human capacity development implementation framework aims to identify quality delivery and cost efficiency.