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We’ve become African model – NCDMB *Hosts senior army officers in Yenagoa
It was another occasion for chest-beating for the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Thursday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, as it played host to a visiting team of ranking military officers from the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja, who came to their facility on a local study tour.
Felix Omatsola Ogbe, Executive Secretary of the Board, who received the visitors, presented a portrait of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry in its first 50 years of operation and the highpoints in implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010.
Ogbe during the interactive session at the Nigerian Content Tower (NCT), corporate headquarters of the NCDMB, told the visitors how the earlier phase was marked by capital flight amounting to an estimated US$380 billion, loss of two million jobs as a result of human capital deficits, and less than five per cent in local content.
In sharp contrast, he said the post-NOGICD Act era had witnessed phenomenal development of in-country capacity and capabilities as a result of creative enforcement and monitoring of industry operations as well as strategic interventions by the NCDMB.
The NCDMB boss explained that local content hit 56 per cent at the end of 2023, which translates into in-country retention of 56 per cent of oil and gas industry yearly spend on operations – a feat that has made the NOGICD Act as well as implementation strategies the model for other oil- and gas-producing countries in Africa, adding 70 per cent in 2027, remained the target of the Board.
With emphasis he declared that the NCDMB was focused on ensuring that equipment and tools as well as services required for oil and gas operations were made and procured in Nigeria.
In accounting for the success of the Board thus far and the feasibility of its performance targets in capacity development, he said: “We take research and development seriously,” citing the centres of excellence established, equipped and funded by the Board in the six universities, one in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Represented by Ama Ikuru, Director, Corporate Services and Capacity Building, Ogbe, observed that the Nigerian Army itself had raised the bar in research and development as well as local content, in relation to human capital development and local manufacturing of some components used in military operations.
While conducting the guests, which comprised officers between the ranks of Lieutenant Colonel and General currently undergoing an 11-month Leadership and Strategic Course 3/2024, round different sections and facilities of the Board, Ikuru who had the team familiarised with the Board’s Technology Innovation and Incubation Centre (TIIC), emphasised its success story in aiding individuals with innovative ideas and facilitating technology adaptation and process improvement was highlighted.
Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, while further elaboration of the Board’s activities and engagements, noted that there is a history of “mutually beneficial partnership between the Army and the NCDMB.”
Citing the involvement of the Board’s personnel as resource persons at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, he noted: “It is good the military sees NCDMB as a partner.”
Esueme Dan Kikile, General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, said the visit of the military officers who all participants of the Leadership and Strategic Course 3/2024 from the NARC, afforded the Board and guests a useful platform for interaction and knowledge sharing, urging the guests to “tell the success story of the NCDMB” wherever they find themselves”.
Abubakar A. Tarfa, a retired General and team leader for the military officers, explained that the Local Study Tour was part of an 11-month course and that members of the team were all professionals in diverse fields – engineering, medicine, nursing, and administration, among others.
“The course was designed to prepare participants for higher responsibilities” adding that it would also provide necessary exposure, to have the officers acquainted with the NCDMB and its role and monitoring programmes that “ensure steady growth in local content” in the oil and gas industry.
Tarfa, who pointed out the enduring relationship between leadership, strategy and national security, stated that the training and associated activities underlined such realities, adding that “military assistance to civil authority for oil production in the Niger Delta toward national development” was a major motivating factor in their study tour of the state.
Juliet Aziekwu, a Lt. Colonel, expressed appreciation for the interactive session, stating: “We are better informed about the NCDMB and its role; we’ll put the knowledge into use.”
Earlier in opening remarks, the Deputy Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, had noted that there was a nexus between what the military officers were in the state to do and what the NCDMB does, that is, capacity building. He said they were thus in the right place.
On the entourage of the NARC team was the Commander of the 16th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Yenagoa, Brigadier General Oluremi Obolo.
Nothing outside external intervention free from direct and indirect government influences, will assuage the feelings of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), in his current ordeal with the Federal Government
He wants President Bola Tinubu to constitute an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative panel to probe the controversy surrounding the council and the alleged N1.3 billion budget allocation.
Adeyemi, who made the request through an open letter to the President is emphatic that the current efforts by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC scandal, would yield little positive result.
Maintaining that he did not believe the agency would come up with the true picture of what transpired, in the saga, which has seized the national space in the last three weeks, Adeyemi, said impartiality under the current framework of ICPC was almost zero.
In the letter copied to both Nigerian and global institutions, he wrote: “I commend your recent directive tasking the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) with investigating the circumstances surrounding the PFIPC Scandal and ₦1.3 billion allocation inserted into the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
“This directive is a vital first step, but the structural realities of this investigation compel me to speak out of a profound desire for absolute transparency.
“Under the current framework, obtaining a truly impartial hearing presents severe structural challenges. The public narrative emanating from official channels remains heavily weighted toward my immediate arrest, effectively overshadowing the gravity of the systemic vulnerabilities and high-level involvement I have brought to light. True accountability cannot be achieved when the agency conducting the investigation answers directly to the branch of government within which the core allegations lie.
“Furthermore, I must state clearly that walking freely into custody under the current arrangement poses an immediate, existential threat to my life. I have received verified, highly reliable intelligence indicating that I am targeted for elimination the moment I surface in an unmonitored environment.
“This is not an unfounded fear. My concerns are deeply validated by the highly alarming events surrounding Mr. Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola, a central intermediary in this matter.
Official reports claim Mr. Tanimola tragically died in a sudden fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Utako, Abuja. Yet, there remains a total absence of independent eyewitness or media verification of any such inferno.
“More disturbingly, under highly unclear circumstances and without the official involvement of any federal capital regulatory agency, the entire Kachi Hotel structure was swiftly invaded by unidentified armed actors and manually demolished down to the rubble days later — effectively erasing a vital physical crime scene and erasing material evidence.
“Following this calculated destruction of a key locus of this investigation, alongside multiple direct attempts on my life and the safety of my family, I am forced to communicate from a secure, undisclosed location.
“If this investigation is to command the absolute trust of the Nigerian public and the international community, it must transcend standard bureaucratic boundaries. Therefore, I respectfully urge Your Excellency to expand the scope of this inquiry by establishing an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative panel.
“To guarantee complete neutrality, this panel should comprise:
- Civil Society Organisations: Specifically Amnesty International, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other transparency Organisations.
- The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA): To guarantee strict adherence to constitutional due process.
- Independent Media Representatives: Selected members from reputable print and broadcast institutions to ensure unfettered, transparent access to documentation.
- International Financial Observers: Representatives from the World Bank and the IMF, given that the funds in question tie directly to multilateral credit frameworks.
- Human Rights Observers: Amnesty International, to monitor compliance with international safety and legal standards.
- Diplomatic Observers: Representatives from the United Nations, United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, ECOWAS and the African Union.
- Statutory Enforcement: The ICPC and EFCC, serving as technical partners within this broader, independent coalition.
“The moment this independent, multi-stakeholder panel is constituted, I will immediately step forward to present comprehensive documentation and verifiable evidences. A system cannot credibly investigate itself when its own key actors are central to the discourse.
“By broadening this panel, you will demonstrate to the world that your administration’s commitment to anti-corruption is absolute, institutional, and above palace politics. The international community is closely watching how Nigeria handles this test of fiscal integrity and governance.
“I remain fully prepared to present the facts and cooperate entirely with a balanced, secure and independent panel.”
All is now set for the wholesome debate on President Bola Tinubu’s proposal for the creation of state police, with members of the House of Representatives, abandoning their own version of the pitch in favour of that of the executive.
The development, which was part of Tuesday’s plenary, saw the members began an accelerated hearing on the version of the legislation submitted by the President recently, leading to its speedily racing through the first and second readings to rest at the committee stage.
After the Green Chambers adopted the presidential version, effectively suspending the House’s earlier proposal, and attention shifted to the Executive-backed amendment, the document was transported to the House Committee on Constitutional Review for further legislative action.
The Executive bill is expected to undergo detailed scrutiny at the committee stage, where lawmakers will examine its key provisions before it is returned to the floor for further consideration.
Atiku Abubakar seventh attempt at the presidency has been halted by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which held that David Mark is not the fit and proper person to assume the position of the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – the camp that produced the former Vice President as candidate of the party.
Hours after the former VP, who had attempted the bid for the nation’s number one job and is on the seventh edition by virtue of his nomination for the 2027 presidential election by the Mark, agreed with the position of the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or participating in any state congresses organised by the former Senate President.
Justice Okon Abang, while reading the lead-judgement in the three-to-one split, said there was no reason for the appellate court to set aside the April 29 order by the lower court, adding that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who barred Mark and his executives from interfering with the tenure and functions of the party’s elected state executives, was in order.
Agreeing that the responsibility for conducting state congresses of political parties rested with elected state executive committees and not with the national leadership, he ordered INEC not to recognise the executive produced as a result of the defective process.
Though his position was echoed by Donatus Okorowo in the majority, Justice Abba Mohammed, who disagreed sharply, with a dissenting judgment, held that the case that precipitated the restraining order bordered on a non-justiciable internal affair of a political party, adding that lower court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
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