The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB has called on media practitioners to scrutinize the Board’s Nigerian content performance.
This according to the Board will help to put its activities on the front burner and deepen the conversation on the achievements of the Nigerian Content Department and Monitoring Board.
The acting General Manager, Corporate Communication and Zonal Coordination, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile who disclosed this at the Nigerian Content Capacity Building Workshop for Media Stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State with the theme:” The Role Of The Media In Sustaining Nigerian Content Legacies” said as key players in the information subsector it behooves of the media to continuously project the policies and programmes of the Board in the public domain.
Dan Kikile noted that the NCDMB has contributed not only the growth of the oil and gas sector but to the nation’s export drive, adding that report from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed contributions of the NCDMB to the Nigerian economy.
He emphasized that prior the establishment of the NOGICD Act in country capacity utilisation in the oil and gas industry was less than 5% but with the Act in place coupled with the concerted, dedicated and visionary leadership at.the NCDMB the in country capacity utilisation has increased to 54%.
He used the medium to introduce the new Executive Secretary of the Board, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe whom has spent 37 years with Chevron with responsibility for carrying out major projects jobs in Nigeria, some African countries and United States of America, stressing that the new Executive Secretary has the experience, wherewithal and the capacity to move the in country capacity utilisation from 54% to 70% by 2027 in line with the mandate of his appointment letter.
His words: ” As a media it is important that you put at the front burner of discussion, at the front burner of government policy initiative what local content has become to the Nigerian economy. I read a few days ago a report from the National Bureau of Statistics how local content has contributed enemously to the Nigerian’s export drive for June,2023. That means we are making impact not just in the oil industry but beyond.
” So it is important that as key drivers in the information, education and entertainment the media continue to bring the issue of local content as a thematic area of discussion and that is why the 2023 workshop for media stakeholders we have chosen the theme:” The Role of the Media in Sustaining Nigerian Content Legacies”
” We have Dr. Austin Tam George who is also going to speak to us on the fundamentals of media strategy and corporate storytelling also going to join via zoom is Dr. Vernon Myers, a Senior Executive Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government who will speak to us on Innovation and Leadership in Media Practice
” The second key thing is that the media is one of the most important instrument in development. I have read somewhere that the media can make innocent guilty and also make a guilty man innocent. The media is very powerful we at NCDMB, we want you to use your power to interrogate Nigerian Content.
” So for us we require that the media interrogate us, you shouldn’t just report that lthe NCDMB has moved local content to 54% and how did you arrive at that,? And some of these stories am sure if you begin to write them, if you begin to investigate them you can be an award winning Journalist because you will deepen the conversation, you will come with facts and figures.
” So for us the takeaway from this engagement is that at the end of the day, we want to see more investigate report on Nigerian content. We are open, transparent and a notable organization. We are open to being questioned because we believe that having been adjudged as the number one MDA in the Ease of Doing Business by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council we want to continue to project an open, transparent and accountable organization”.
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