*Photo: Engr. Simbi Wabote*
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) , Engr. Simbi Wabote, had commended the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and the media generally for playing a major part in the Board’s success story.
He gave the commendation in Abuja on Tuesday, during a Breakfast Meeting, as part of of activities marking the 7th Annual Conference of GOCOP, where he also expressed commitment to arrest the decline in the nation’s oil production numbers and to support President Bola Tinubu to achieve the economic policies in his Renewed Hope Agenda.
Engr. Wabote, while noting that this year’s event was the second edition of his parley with GOCOP said ““The Management of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board was impressed with the outcome of the maiden engagement in February 2022 and we appreciate your reports on the various programmes.
“We are equally grateful for the constructive criticisms as such criticisms enable us to rethink and retool our processes and improve our deliverables to our stakeholders.”
He added that “With the support of the media and other oil and gas industry players, we have received some deserved commendations for the innovative initiatives we implement and the modest achievements we have recorded these past years.
He recalled that “Some of the notable recognitions we received in the last 18 months include the award by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) as the most efficient agency among all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government in 2022.
“We are also rated PLATINUM by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms in recognition of the self-imposed reforms of our processes.
” In addition, I was recognized in October 2022 by former President Muhammed Buhari with the “Distinguished Capacity Development Award” at the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (NEAPS).
Engr Wabote said “These awards have challenged us to redouble our efforts to deepen Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry and the linkage sectors and to continue to contribute to the growth of our national economy.”
He noted “One of our important most and successful initiatives is the Service Level Agreement (SLA) we have with key entities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“We initiated this concept in 2017 to shorten the contracting cycle in the Nigerian oil and gas industry from an uncertain 2 to 3-year period to 6 months.
“Our goal was to spur the speedy development of new oil and gas projects, ensure compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act, and guarantee timely approvals of Nigerian Content documents.
“Our objectives were also to facilitate ease of doing business, set new standards of quality service delivery in the public and private sectors and provide evidence that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is not a mere regulator, but essentially a Business Enabler.”
He argued that “These aspirations are even more urgent today to arrest the monumental decline in our nation’s oil production numbers and to support President Bola Tinubu in every possible way to achieve the economic policies in his Renewed Hope Agenda.”
He disclosed “Contrary to the popular view, the unfortunate stealing of our crude oil by vandals is not the only reason for Nigeria’s low production numbers and the decrease in our foreign exchange earnings.
“Our nation’s production deficit is partly caused by the lack of major investments in the past decade, declining oil production from aging oil fields, and the clamor for energy transition which caused international oil companies to cut back on new projects.
“There is also the emergence of attractive oil-producing nations in Africa and across the globe, leading to intense competition for investment capital. These challenges were exacerbated by our inexplicable delay in the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act and of course the long contracting cycle time.”
He disclosed that “At the NCDMB, we took bold steps to use the SLA to cut down time in all our touchpoints during pre-qualification, bidding, and award stages of the oil and gas tenders, starting with Nigeria LNG Ltd in June 2017.
“That SLA with the Nigeria LNG was the first of its kind between a regulator and another entity in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“The implementation ensured that we broke a record for the shortest contract approval period.
“Before we instituted the SLA, we had already introduced the 15-DAY Rule to the industry in 2017, where we promised that we would respond within 15 working days to any formal request for approvals that relate to oil industry projects execution. The 15-Day Rule also permitted operators to go ahead with their projects if we fail to respond to their request after 15 days.
“As further proof of our commitment to a short contracting cycle, we achieved a 14-month contract approval record on the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater project which was promoted by the Nigerian Agip Exploration, in partnership with SNEPCo. We had accomplished this record before the project was suspended due to non-technical reasons.”
He said NCDMB was “ extremely delighted that our SLA template has been adopted across the entire oil and gas industry through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) we signed last week with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd) and five international oil-producing companies.”